Editor's note: This is the final part – for now – in a series in which we tried to unravel the complex financial underpinnings of public-private partnerships such as the ones in place for the Okanagan Correctional Centre and Penticton Regional Hospital, and determine if they are actually a good deal for taxpayers. You can read Part 1 here, Part 2 here and Part 3 here.

VANCOUVER – Companies that do business with the government should expect their contracts to face scrutiny from taxpayers, a lawyer argued Wednesday at a hearing to determine if the financial model underlying the Okanagan Correctional Centre should be released to The Herald.

"When the government is spending million and millions of dollars to build a correctional facility, the public wants to know, to put it simply, if they're getting bang for their buck," Mark Underhill said in his submissions on behalf of the Office of the Information and Privacy Commissioner for B.C.

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