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Regulation | 17 cabinet decision against one of his clients. Bernette Ho of Norton Rose Fulbright Canada LLP's Calgary office, points out, however, that while NEB "decisions" are appealable to the Federal Court, the amended Act says NEB reports no longer constitute "decisions." "At first blush, it would appear to say the substance of a report of the Board is not something that can be appealed," Ho observes. "That will take a little bit of mental gymnastics to get through, but if parties are motivated to get an issue before the Court of Appeal, they'll find a way to do it." Alberta's new Responsible Energy Development Act (REDA) raises the same questions of standing, scope and the ultimate independence of the new AER — questions made more compelling by Ottawa's plan to turn over regulatory duties to the provinces. Lou Cusano with Torys LLP says REDA contains "no preamble setting out broad purposes" and no reference to "public interest," as in the old Energy Resources Conservation Act. He says new regulations attached to REDA assign environmental, social and economic responsibilities that "appear to be akin to the public interest." But the words "public interest" have been omitted and "you can't ignore that." Block agrees. "Words don't appear in a statute for a reason" and by removing bigpicture, public-interest considerations from the mandate of the AER, the government is clearly reserving policy decisions to itself, he says. BLG's Michael Massicotte says the foundation for REDA was laid by Alberta's Regulatory Reform task force in its 2010 final report. The first recommendation of the Task Force was the formation of a Policy Management Office to coordinate between cabinet and the energy regulator. The policy management office (POM) has since been created but Massicotte calls it "very, very, very strange" that REDA contains no mention of it or its role in Alberta energy development. "Some would say it compromises the AER," Massicotte says of the PMO's role. He notes that section 67 of REDA gives the Minister power to give direction to the regulator, provide priorities and ensure the regulator's work is consistent with government policy. In an article on REDA, he says "the issue of the independence of the regulator is again raised" by section 67. In discussions with other members of the regulatory bar, Olthafer says, "we've all questioned the degree to which policy can be superimposed on the regulator." "The regulator has been much more demanding on the rigour of applications. There are directives and rules that must be complied with, and rightly so. [But clients feel that] they should be able to move through the system more efficiently." -Randall Block, Borden Ladner Gervais LLP Brian Burton is a writer on energy and legal matters based in Calgary. Lexpert®Ranked Lawyers Greenfield, QC, Donald E. Bennett Jones LLP (403) 298-3248 greenfieldd@ bennettjones.com Gropper, QC, Mitchell H. Farris, Vaughan, Wills & Murphy LLP (604) 661-9322 mgropper@farris.com Grossman, Andrew Norton Rose Fulbright Canada LLP (416) 216-2312 andrew.grossman@ nortonrosefulbright.com Mr. Greenfield's energy practice spans asset and share sales and acquisitions in Canada and abroad, LNG and oil sands development, facilities construction and operation, JVs, limited partnerships and farmouts as well as Investment Canada Act matters. Mr. Gropper's practice focuses on corporate finance, reorganizations, M&A and commercial real estate. He has advised boards of directors on take-over bids, goingprivate transactions and other corporate matters. Mr. Grossman practises corporate and securities law, focusing on M&A, corporate finance and governance. His experience includes transactions in the oil and gas, energy, mining, technology, financial services, aerospace and retail sectors. Guichon Jr., QC, David A. Norton Rose Fulbright Canada LLP (403) 267-9511 dave.guichon@ nortonrosefulbright.com Mr. Guichon has practised energy law since 1981 and has extensive experience in all facets of the upstream and midstream sectors of the oil and gas industry, including pipeline and processing facilities transactions, joint ventures and project development. Guinan, William C. Borden Ladner Gervais LLP (403) 232-9458 bguinan@blg.com Mr. Guinan represents publicly listed oil and gas and other industrial issuers in equity and debt financing transactions, M&As, corporate governance matters and in various facets of oil and gas and corporate and commercial law. Harbell, James W. Stikeman Elliott LLP (416) 869-5690 jharbell@stikeman.com Mr. Harbell is a member of the firm's Partnership Board, co-chair of the Energy Group and focuses his energy practice on developers, investors, government agencies and municipalities on power project development, finance and procurement.

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