8 LEXPERT
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2017
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WWW.LEXPERT.CA
Bouvette, Sylvie Borden Ladner Gervais LLP
(514) 954-2507 sbouvette@blg.com
Ms. Bouvette is the Montréal regional leader of BLG's Electricity Markets and
Oil & Gas Groups. She has over 30 years' experience representing clients in
connection with the development, acquisition, joint ventures, partnership and
financing of hydro, biomass, LNG, biogas and wind farm projects, and has
been involved in the energy industry notably through board memberships
and industry events.
Borduas, Robert G. Norton Rose Fulbright Canada LLP
(514) 847-4524 robert.borduas@nortonrosefulbright.com
Mr. Borduas is a Canadian practice leader in project finance. He has represented
lenders and borrowers in several large energy projects including wind farms
and gas storage facilities.
Borden, Richard P. Norton Rose Fulbright Canada LLP
(403) 267-8362 rick.borden@nortonrosefulbright.com
Practising extensively in the area of complex commercial transactions,
Mr. Borden focuses on large-scale projects and financings in the energy
sector, including oil sands projects, pipeline projects and LNG projects.
His clients include major Canadian banks and project sponsors
and he has strong relationships with the key project lending specialists
at the major Canadian banks.
Block, QC, Randall W. Borden Ladner Gervais LLP
(403) 232-9572 rblock@blg.com
Mr. Block, QC, specializes in all forms of dispute resolution in the energy/oil
& gas industries, including regulatory proceedings, litigation and arbitration.
He has appeared before the Alberta Court of Queen's Bench, Alberta Court
of Appeal, Supreme Court of Canada, Alberta Utilities Commission, Alberta
Energy Regulator, National Energy Board and various arbitral panels.
He is an ACTL Fellow.
Bigué, QC, AdE, Ann Dentons Canada LLP
(514) 878-8808 ann.bigue@dentons.com
A former National Energy Board Counsel, Ms. Bigué's administrative,
constitutional and regulatory law practice includes an emphasis on energy and
natural resources law and environmental assessment. She also provides advice
on Aboriginal and treaty rights to corporate clients in this context.
Bertrand, AdE, Jean G. Norton Rose Fulbright Canada LLP
(514) 847-4401 jean.bertrand@nortonrosefulbright.com
Mr. Bertrand focuses on commercial and corporate litigation, including class
actions and arbitration, and on administrative law, with emphasis on regulated
activity such as competition, transportation, international trade and energy.
undergo the process that Ottawa is working on and
promises to put in place.
Among lawyers interviewed for this story there is a
general view that, whether or not they agreed with the
Report, the NEB needed fixing. As a result of what
seemed an endless stream of contentious issues faced
by the NEB, pipeline applications have been thrown
into doubt and approval processes bogged down in
delay. "All sides are impacted by the lack of certainty,"
says Lisa DeMarco, a partner at DeMarco Allan LLP
in Toronto. "I think [the revamp] is a positive for the
whole sector."
A lawyer with more than two decades of experience,
DeMarco mainly represents governments and First Na-
tions at the NEB and other regulators. She is particu-
larly pleased to see the expert panel's advice on paying
greater attention to Aboriginal interests. "Everyone has
the right to be heard, particularly those who have felt
aggrieved by the historical process," says DeMarco.
Many of the problems identified by the panel were
rooted in NEB governance, and some of its recommen-
dations sought to address those issues. ey include a
call to create separate chairperson and CEO roles, with
separate hearing commissioners and a variety of back-
grounds. Much of the regulator's work is "very technic-
al," says DeMarco. "Some of the project approvals re-
quire advanced economic and engineering skills, so you
want to have that reflected but you also want to have a
strong indigenous perspective, a strong environmental
perspective, a strong economic perspective."
Laura Estep, a partner at Dentons Canada LLP and a
member of the firm's energy regulatory practice group,
says she too is pleased with some of the proposed chan-
ges. Recommendations such as a move toward a more
corporate structure with separate CEO and chair-
person roles would move the regulator to "a govern-
ance structure that is very similar to the Alberta energy
regulator," she says. "It's a positive evolution, and I think
probably that's a recommendation that might end up
getting implemented."
LEXPERT-RANKED LAWYERS
"We are not balancing
the benefits of the impact.
What we're looking at,
what the NGOs have been
able to achieve is to say, 'Look,
unless it's beneficial from
an environmental perspective,
it shouldn't proceed.'"
- Shawn Denstedt,
Osler, Hoskin & Harcourt LLP
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