I am disappointed in the decision today by the Ontario Court of Appeals. Having read the full decision, their logic is clear. Still, it leaves me with a bitter taste, based on my first-hand experience at several stages of the process.

The Canadian Journal of Nonprofit and Social Economy Research has published a new research paper on the Lansdowne Park public-private partnership. Read the research paper here.

by Tim Plumptre

This meeting is about Lansdowne Park, and what’s happening — or going to happen — there, unless the Friends of Lansdowne are able to do something about it. So you might expect in my remarks that I would start at Lansdowne. However, I want to start some distance away, in the City of New York.

But first, a little background. In 1990, I established a non-profit organization called the Institute On Governance. I had in mind that the Institute would be a think tank to help to share progressive, Canadian-made views about effective governance of public organizations with people elsewhere in the world. I believed then, and I continue to believe, that the quality of our public institutions has a huge impact on the quality of life in our communities.

The following presentation was made by Lorne Cutler, P.Eng., MBA on August 18, 2011 to the City of Ottawa Finance and Economic Development Committee.

Previous Involvement with Lansdowne

• In 2009, I was engaged by Councillor Leadman to do a financial review of the Lansdowne Live Project (LLP), including review of accepted criteria for entering into PPPs

• In 2010, I was engaged by Sack Goldblatt Mitchell to assist in the financial review of the project for the court case

• I was the person who found the $60 million error in the equity formula and identified that the City’s Funding Equity could drop precipitously if interest rates were to decrease.