28 LEXPERT
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2018
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WWW.LEXPERT.CA
Krawchuk, Leanne C. Dentons Canada LLP
(780) 423-7198 leanne.krawchuk@dentons.com
Ms. Krawchuk advises mining producers in Canada on corporate/commercial,
construction and procurement, corporate finance and securities, mergers
& acquisitions, and other legal matters, including the negotiation of supply
agreements with electricity producers. She advises on royalties, price re-
views, dedication and unitization agreements and assignments, and transfers
of mining interests.
Kraus, Brent W. Bennett Jones LLP
(403) 298-3071 krausb@bennettjones.com
Mr. Kraus focuses on M&A and capital market transactions involving clients in
the upstream and midstream energy and oilfield services industries. He acts
for strategic acquirors and financial investors; local management teams; and
investment dealers. He is also co-head of the firms corporate department.
Kott, Olivier F. Norton Rose Fulbright Canada LLP
(514) 847-4445 olivier.kott@nortonrosefulbright.com
Mr. Kott has over 40 years' experience in the prevention, management and
resolution of complex business disputes with a particular focus on construc-
tion law, product liability and insurance in the energy and infrastructure
sector. He has extensive civil trial and appellate experience, including suc-
cessfully pleading two landmark cases before the Supreme Court of Canada.
King, Richard J. Osler, Hoskin & Harcourt LLP
(416) 862-6626 rking@osler.com
Mr. King advises clients on commercial and regulatory matters related
to power project development, power trading and utility regulation,
as well as the duty to consult Aboriginal groups regarding large natural
resource projects.
Killoran, QC, Maureen E. Osler, Hoskin & Harcourt LLP
(403) 260-7003 mkilloran@osler.com
Ms. Killoran is a trusted advisor representing clients on business critical,
commercial and resource industry disputes. She is lead counsel on complex
commercial disputes and in the defence of challenges to major resource
projects. She is a seasoned trial and appeal lawyer with extensive commercial
arbitration experience.
Kierans, David B. Gowling WLG
(514) 392-9551 david.kierans@gowlingwlg.com
Mr. Kierans practises in corporate and commercial law with particular em-
phasis on secured lending, real estate acquisition and finance, equipment
financing, aviation financing, asset-backed and project financing. His experi-
ence includes energy-generation projects and P3 project finance.
LEXPERT-RANKED LAWYERS
is also concerned about the potential for timing
delays. "ere's an additional amount of work
planned for the front-end of a project and that
additional work isn't captured by any of the leg-
islative timelines," he says. He, too, thinks the
overall process "is going to be longer," primarily
because the new regulator has the ability "to stop
the clock" once it has requested information.
While Buchinski likes that meaningful en-
gagement and transparency are enshrined in the
proposed Bill, she notes that, ultimately, "the
Minister retains a lot of discretion on how the
processes play out. ere seems to be a lot of gov-
ernment involvement."
A regulator, Nettleton says, must be indepen-
dent and act in a way that has credibility. "I think
that the National Energy Board, both historically
and in its current form, has demonstrated both
of those traits," adding that he saw no reason to
scrap the NEB.
One aspect of the proposed Bill that does
seem to get sup-
port from lawyers
in the oil and gas
industry is the
greater emphasis
on taking into ac-
count the interests
and traditional
knowledge of In-
digenous peoples.
"It's appropriate
and I think a lot of
the effort in mod-
ernizing the Act
and the language
in the Act is laud-
able," says Keen.
Less well received, he says, is the proposal to
eliminate any test for standing or interested party
requirements. "Certainly the industry is opposed
to [and] concerned about that. It presents practi-
cal difficulties when you manage a large, contro-
versial project." He supports public participation
unless "the intent is to derail an otherwise orderly
administration process." Nettleton adds his con-
cern that the process can become "a forum for
public debate over socio-economic issues."
Osler's Ignasiak, however, says the new stand-
ing rules could be an improvement on past expe-
riences with this dicey assessment-process com-
ponent. "ere are a number of people who com-
plain about the more flexible standing rules [and
think] leaving it to the discretion of the panel can
be dangerous. I think the flexibility now exists
in which the panel can say we're going to have a
town hall type of day where all groups can come.
But these eight groups [for example] that are right
in the vicinity of the project and are going to be
"Even without these
changes to legislation,
we've been seeing a
reduced number of
projects in Alberta
... This regulatory
uncertainty, along with
a difficult business
climate, just adds
more challenges
to the whole situation."
- LAURA ESTEP,
DENTONS CANADA LLP
