Those are magic words for politicians in a province where ballooning construction costs for public projects -- think fast ferries and the Vancouver Convention Centre expansion for a start -- have plagued successive governments. With the official opening of the Sea to Sky Highway in good time for the 2010 Olympics, those words are being uttered with delight by the Liberal politicians who signed off on what was at the time the largest single highway contract in provincial history. Join discussion...

PPPs are the opposite of privatization: With PPPs the private sector builds infrastructure for British Columbians, which government owns and maintains control over -- be it a hospital, a bridge or a road. PPPs, done for many years and in many countries around the world, have several benefits: Certainty with fixed-price contracts, completion on time and on budget, innovation and discipline. Over the course of the project, a successful PPP project is expected to be less expensive than a traditional project. Join discussion...

Projects built as public-private partnerships - such as the Canada Line and the Sea to Sky Highway - can be more expensive for taxpayers than if done directly by the government, a new report has found. Join discussion...