CR: The PPP Canada Fund is really not meant to be 'the fund' to support all of these projects. From my perspective, the fund is really a gap lender. I don't think the federal government's plan is to be an equity player. But they can provide a reasonable amount of funding to make sure the project gets off the ground and moves ahead. And especially at the municipal level, those governments often need some help in getting the PPP model going. And the more projects that get started, the more experience they will get, and more confidence in the PPP model will result. And all of it has to be proven with a business case. So if the project doesn't make sense, then the PPP model won't be used.
ONE OF THE INTERESTING DEVELOPMENTS WITH THE PPP CANADA FUND IS THE INTEREST MUNICIPALITIES AS WELL AS NATIVE CANADIAN 'FIRST NATION' COMMUNITIES ARE SHOWING IN ITS UTILISA TION. DO YOU THINK THIS IS AN EMERGING OPPORTUNITY FOR PPPS?
CR: Municipalities and First Nations, yes, that's absolutely an emerging opportunity. It's something that is of great interest to me. We have to do something differently in Canada in terms of our Indian reserves. We have a similar problem that you do in the US, you call them reservations. The reserves that are adjacent to major civic centers tend to do a little bit better than those that are more remote, obviously. But what are we going to do in terms of land claim and development and development of infrastructure in First Nations? It's a huge challenge and it's something I think that we need to discuss in broader terms. We need to look at new methods of helping these communities with economic development, education and even basic services like clean water and modern healthcare facilities. I think PPP can play a role in that.