IO Market Update: $200B in projects, reconsideration of P3s

The new $200-billion pipeline from Infrastructure Ontario (IO) released June 5 features 28 infrastructure projects in pre- and active procurement and an additional 19 government projects in the initial stages of planning, including seven new ones.

In their June 2025 Market Update presentation hosted by the Empire Club, Minister of Infrastructure Kinga Surma and Infrastructure Ontario interim CEO Angela Clayton offered a glimpse into the province’s strategy for new transit-oriented communities (TOCs), which are expected to generate 340,000 new homes, and also suggested there would be diminished reliance on P3s in the future.

Clayton noted there will are nine TOC deals to be hammered out in the next 24 months.

New projects making the cut in the Market Update include an OPP Academy, Ontario Police College, two sites for a Runnymede Healthcare Centre, a Stops, Rail and Systems phase for the Hamilton LRT, a new Halton Regional Courthouse, and the Lansdowne Children’s Treatment Centre Redevelopment Project in Brantford.

“In the face of U.S. tariffs and continued economic uncertainty, we continue to proceed with our most ambitious capital plan in Ontario’s history, $200 billion over 10 years,” said Surma.

“Moving projects forward and keeping our workers on the job will help us weather this economic uncertainty.”

Disaggregating large projects

Surma said the 20-year-old IO, long a champion of P3s to de-risk projects, will increasingly focus on a variety of delivery models, with disaggregation of larger projects to improve competition.

Clayton said IO has heard project size and complexity, not delivery model, is the biggest barrier to market competition for large projects.

“I would say the P3 model is certainly alive and well in Ontario,” said Clayton. “The P3 model still features prominently in the plan.

“My preferred model is the DBFM. I think there’s a ton of value to it, but there’s also a role that the industry needs to help us play improving the value associated with that model.”

She wrote in her CEO’s letter that IO was encouraged by the results realized through new delivery models and interest in collaborative models.

There are still 10 P3s in the pipeline, Clayton noted. IO appreciates the risk transfer that a P3 entails, she said, but they have tended to lead to a decreased volume of bidders and there have been financing hiccups.

Clayton commented, “We’ve had several high-profile transit P3s that have gotten into trouble, and just figuring out the right tools and mechanisms to solve for some of those liquidity and cash-flow issues that we’re seeing on some of the bigger projects, and what the solution is.”

In the Market Update IO announced the procurement model for three major projects for which procurement had been undesignated – and none of them will be P3s. The North York General Hospital Inpatient Redevelopment project will be procured under the Alliance model; the Eastern Ontario Correctional Complex will be Design Build Finance; and the Oak Valley Health job in Uxbridge will be Design-Bid Build.

Major projects that have reached financial close or have started construction since June 2024 include the Prince Edward County Memorial Hospital Redevelopment, the Weeneebayko Area Health Authority Hospital, and the Scarborough Subway Extension Stations, Rail and Systems job.

The Market Update also indicates the development phase agreement for the Eglinton Crosstown West Extension Stations, Rail and Systems is targeted for Q3 of this year, the same timeframe as for the Yonge North Subway Extention Contract Execution and the Quinte Detention Centre RFP.

The minister reported major site preparation work at the future Ontario Place is successfully nearing completion, setting up the next phase.

Surma defended the use of Minister’s Zoning Orders by her ministry, “as contentious as they are,” as essential to getting more homes built at TOCs.

“I will help the builders that want to build around transit. That’s where people want to live,” she said.

Referring to the government’s response to U.S. President Donald Trump’s tariffs and general economic uncertainty, Surma said Premier Doug Ford is at his best in a crisis.

“Now infrastructure is the top priority, and I would say the premier had a lot to do with that,” she said.