WWW.LEXPERT.CA
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2019
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LEXPERT 21
MacKay-Dunn, QC, R. Hector FARRIS LLP
(604) 661-9307 hmackay-dunn@farris.com
Mr. MacKay-Dunn has over 30 years of practice experience providing legal
advice to high-growth public and private companies over a broad range of
industry sectors including infrastructure, energy, mining, life sciences, health
and technology, advising on corporate domestic and cross-border public
and private securities offerings, M&A and international partnering and
corporate governance.
MacDonald, QC, Ross A. Stikeman Elliott LLP
(604) 631-1367 rmacdonald@stikeman.com
Mr. MacDonald's diverse real estate and commercial practice emphasizes
acquisitions, leasing, financing and all aspects of major commercial real
estate development projects. His practice also includes real estate-based
infrastructure projects, such as the Vancouver/Richmond/YVR Canada Line
rapid transit project.
Macaulay, David J. Bennett Jones LLP
(403) 298-3479 macaulayd@bennettjones.com
Mr. Macaulay represents domestic and international developers of commercial
energy projects, with an emphasis on structuring power, pipeline, oil & gas,
storage and other infrastructure projects.
Lyons, Catherine A. Goodmans LLP
(416) 597-4183 clyons@goodmans.ca
Ms. Lyons counsels private- and public-sector clients in planning and
environmental law and social licence matters. Her practice includes
infrastructure finance and cost-sharing agreements and associated
environmental assessment approvals.
Lutz, J. Steven Bennett Jones LLP
(416) 777-5732 lutzs@bennettjones.com
Mr. Lutz specializes in project, asset-based, cross-border, equipment and
syndicated financings. His clients include Canadian and international banks,
project developers, private-equity and corporate borrowers.
Lucky, Donald C.I. Reynolds Mirth Richards & Farmer LLP
(780) 497-3354 dlucky@rmrf.com
Mr. Lucky is experienced in the negotiation of complex construction
arrangements and has acted in relation to mega projects throughout Canada,
the United States and in Australia. The matters have ranged from industrial
power generation (oil, gas, solar, wind, carbon capture) to public-private
(P3) infrastructure projects (hospitals, transportation). He also advises
on construction disputes.
LEXPERT-RANKED LAWYERS
places, and partnerships at the centre of rural
economic development."
Launched concurrently and most would say nec-
essarily, the government released its "High-Speed
Access for All: Canada's Connectivity Strategy"
with a plan to ensure that "all Canadians have ac-
cess to affordable, high-speed internet, no matter
where they live. It also commits to improve cellular
access where Canadians live and work, and along
major highways and roads."
According to the Strategy, it "was designed to
address the priorities of rural Canada. is grass-
roots Strategy was built on ideas submitted by ru-
ral Canadians from across the country. Minister
Jordan and Parliamentary Secretary Marc Serré
toured the country and met with hundreds of ru-
ral Canadians to hear first-hand about their local
needs. ey spoke with people living and working
in rural communities — like forestry workers, en-
trepreneurs, and farmers — as well as community
leaders, associations, businesses, academics, mu-
nicipalities, Indigenous groups, and provincial and
territorial Ministers.
"Canadians were also invited to submit their
ideas directly to the new Centre for Rural Eco-
nomic Development at Infrastructure Canada.
We heard that rural Canada is facing rapid and
unprecedented changes, but more importantly, it
has a solid foundation for building a prosperous
future. While every community's ideas were dif-
ferent and specific to their needs, common themes
and challenges emerged: the need for reliable and
affordable high-speed Internet and mobile con-
nectivity; a desire to maintain vibrant local econo-
mies; the need to attract and retain talent (includ-
ing through skills development and immigration);
the need for affordable and attainable housing; the
need for new or improved Infrastructure where
people live and work that is resilient to climate
change; a need for community capacity to plan and
implement improvements and change."
A key part of the Strategy is to extend high-
speed internet and wireless connectivity to all
Canadians. "Access to reliable, high-speed Inter-
net is essential for success. It's needed for business
growth, skills training, public safety, access to ser-
vices, and participation in the democratic process.
Rural and remote communities are particularly
hard to connect, given their low population den-
sity, remoteness, and oen challenging terrain.
As a result, as of 2018, 4.9 million Canadians
lacked access to the government's target speeds of
50 megabits per second download (Mbps) and 10
Mbps upload ("50/10"). In fact, only 37 percent of
rural households are currently able to access these
speeds, compared to 97 percent of households in
urban areas. Cellular coverage is also an issue. As
of 2017, 14 percent of major Canadian roads and
highways still lacked mobile wireless coverage.
