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Weekend Newsstand: May 23, 2015
What a day, what a glorious day. In the news: the Pan Am Games are under budget on capital costs, the benefits and problems with P3s (and a handy definition), and the retirement of Canada's first female major-airline pilot.
Despite being plagued by concerns about high costs and use of budgets (specifically overpaid executives), the Pan Am Games is reportedly under budget on capital costs. CEO Saad Rafi attributed the good news to the fact that most of the large construction projects were contracted closer to the 2009 announcement that Toronto would host the Games, when the global financial crisis had depressed prices. Some of the contracts made more recently were over budget, but because they tended to be smaller, the overall budget has done very well. The games will run from July 10 to 26, and the Parapan Am Games will take place here from Aug. 7 to 15.
Speaking of budgets, the overdue and over budget nature of many public infrastructure projects (hello, Spadina extension) has led some to consider the value of “public-private partnerships,” or P3s, in urban planning. The Toronto Star has written a crash course on what P3s really are and what their benefits might be, but one central argument in their favour is usually that businesses have an incentive to not squander time or money because they don’t get paid until the project is done, meaning P3 projects are more likely to be done on time and within the agreed-upon budget. Whether that’s actually an argument for a new model that some argue takes the power away from the government, or whether it’s an argument for pushing governments and their contractors to be more accountable, is for the economists and political ideologists in us to debate. (And you can read one such argument Torontoist heard back in 2012 on the very subject.)
Judy Cameron, the first woman to work as a pilot for a major airline in Canada, has retired after 37 years on the job. When she was hired by Air Canada in 1978, only four out of 10 women worked outside their homes in Canada. Cameron dealt with hostile environments: one of her college classrooms was covered in female centrefolds and passengers mistook her for a stewardess, even after she’d become a pilot and been given a distinct uniform.