A Critique of Public-Private Partnerships in Quebec: Democratic Deficiencies and Unethical Procurement

The recent shift to public-private partnerships (PPPs) in Quebec has adversely affected the democratic governance of infrastructure projects and lessened the degree of political control over them. For academicians, discussion of this trend offers an introduction to the field of critical management studies and provides an innovative application of its theories to a real-world issue. For practitioners, it points out a major pitfall of PPPs-that they lock government into long-term contracts and remove decision-making power from elected officials.