Lexpert®Ranked Lawyers
Kroft, Jason
Stikeman Elliott LLP
(416) 869-5534
jkroft@stikeman.com
Mr. Kroft's practice
embraces corporate
and structured fi nancial
matters including
energy products. His
clients include FIs;
fi nancial intermediaries;
investment banks;
investment, hedge,
pension and sovereign
wealth funds; and
mining ventures.
Koval, Patricia A.
Torys LLP
(416) 865-7356
pkoval@torys.com
Ms. Koval practises
in corporate fi nance
(including investment
funds), securities,
M&A and governance.
She has 20 years'
experience with REITS,
including domestic
and cross-border
IPOs, fi nancings,
management
internalizations
and mergers.
Kraeker, Bryce A.
Gowling Lafl eur
Henderson LLP
(519) 575-7545
bryce.kraeker@
gowlings.com
Mr. Kraeker's
transactional practice
focuses on helping
Canadian and
international clients
buy and sell business
and raise money. His
advice extends to
M&A, take-over bids,
plans of arrangement,
and public and private
share and asset
purchases.
Kraag, Scott
Torys LLP
(416) 865-7980
skraag@torys.com
Mr. Kraag represents
investors and lenders
in the development and
fi nancing of complex
infrastructure projects,
with expertise in the
energy, infrastructure
and transportation
sectors. Mr. Kraag is
an adjunct professor
of law
at Osgoode Hall
Law School.
Kratz, QC,
Martin P.J.
Bennett Jones LLP
(403) 298-3650
kratzm@bennettjones.
com
With a background in
energy research, Mr.
Kratz, QC, leads the
intellectual property
practice. Focus is on
IP and technology
law, including
clearance opinions,
licenses, IP protection,
IP transactions,
commercialization,
strategy, privacy,
ecommerce and M&A.
Kufeldt, Kent D.
Borden Ladner
Gervais LLP
(604) 640-4195
kkufeldt@blg.com
Mr. Kufeldt's corporate
and securities practice
covers equity and
debt fi nancings,
reorganizations and
M&A transactions in
oil and gas, mining,
renewable power and
other sectors. Clients
include companies,
partnerships
and underwriting
syndicates.
28 | LNG
mechanisms have to be put into place. And they are being
put into place quickly."
Well, mostly. e prime concerns remaining in Canada are
not environmental issues or Aboriginal relations, argues Val-
entine. It's timeliness. "In this industry it is important to be
able to advance your decision-making process quickly. So if
anyone could be concerned about anything here, they would
say the province of BC has to be timelier in the generation
of its fi scal regime. Fiscal regimes will drive these projects."
e key question is taxes. In February, Premier Christy
Clark's Liberal government, which has touted LNG as the
saviour of BC's economy, proposed a two-tiered Lique-
fi ed Natural Gas Income Tax. If passed this fall companies
would pay 1.5 per cent tax on profi ts at the start of produc-
tion — allowing them to begin recouping start-up costs.
Later, as those costs are recovered, they would pay up to a
7 per cent tax.
Alicia Quesnel, a Calgary partner with Burnet, Duck-
worth & Palmer LLP, is a leading oil and gas lawyer. She says
LNG companies that want to develop Canadian projects
have expressed concerns the tax regime is too high "given
who we are competing against. Right now, for instance, we
are competing against brown-fi eld projects in the US. And
there are a lot of them."
ose brown-fi eld projects, which are getting off the
ground faster than Canadian projects, have the advantage
of lower costs because much of the infrastructure is already
built. If the tax regime here is viewed as too high, it just adds
to dwindling economics factors favouring a Canadian LNG
industry. Especially, adds Quesnel, in light of recent con-
tracts between producers in other countries with Asian buy-
ers, which were de-linked LNG from crude-oil prices. at
"I don't think we currently know the full
implications of [the Tsilhqot'in Supreme Court
of Canada] decision for existing production
or the ability to put in more pipelines,
or more processing capacity and the ability
to essentially grow the LNG business as yet."
– ALICIA QUESNEL, BURNET, DUCKWORTH & PALMER LLP
