Representative Matters
ELECTRICITY GENERATION AND CONSERVATION/DEMAND MANAGEMENT
Advising City of Toronto on Energy Services Agreement with Toronto Hydro Electricity Services Inc. relating to purchase of thermal and electrical energy and sale of biogas produced at Ashbridges Bay Wastewater Treatment Plant.
Advised Independent Electricity System Operator on the development of contracts and rules for second generation Feed-In Tariff Program (FIT 2.0) in relation to procurement of renewable energy products, including wind, solar, hydro-electric and biomass.
Advising Independent Electricity System Operator on Energy From Waste Power Purchase Agreement with Regions of Durham and Peel.
Advising Independent Electricity System Operator on issues arising out of Feed-in Tariff Rules, Applications and Contracts.
Advised Independent Electricity System Operator on Request for Qualifications, Request for Proposals and Contract relating to procurement of 350 MW Peaking Generation Facility in Northern York Region.
Advised Independent Electricity System Operator on preparation of Master Conservation and Demand Management Agreements with over 50 local electricity distribution companies and development of schedules in respect of individual CDM programs.
Advising Independent Electricity System Operator on legal issues relating to contracts arising out of Renewable Energy Supply and Clean Energy Supply Requests for Proposals and other generation procurement, including:
- Greenfield Energy Centre (a partnership between Calpine and Mitsui): 1,005 MW combined cycle gas-fired generation facility, Sarnia-Lambton.
- St. Clair Power (a partnership between Invenergy and Stark Investments): 570 MW combined cycle gas-fired generation facility, Sarnia-Lambton.
- Greenfield South Power Project: 280 MW combined cycle gas-fired generation facility, Mississauga (Loreland Avenue, south of Mattawa Avenue).
- Greater Toronto Airports Authority: 90 MW cogeneration facility, Mississauga.
- Loblaw Properties, 10 MW, province-wide demand response initiative.
- Eastview Landfill Gas Energy Plant, Guelph Hydro Generation Company (Guelph), 2.5 MW.
- Erie Shores Wind Farm, Erie Shores Wind Farm L.P. (Port Burwell), 99 MW. Erie Shores Wind Farm L.P. is a limited partnership of AIM PowerGen Corporation and the Clean Power Income Fund.
- Kingsbridge Wind Power Project, EPCOR Power Development Corporation (Goderich), 39.6 MW.
- Melancthon Grey Wind Project, Canadian Hydro Developers, Inc. (Shelburne), 67.5 MW.
- Prince Wind Farm, Superior Wind Energy Inc. (Prince Township, near Sault Ste. Marie), 99 MW.
- Blue Highlands Wind Farm, Superior Wind Energy Inc. (Blue Mountains), 49.5 MW. Superior Wind Energy is a joint venture between Brascan Power Corporation (51%) and Harmony Wind Energy Inc. (49%).
- Trail Road Landfill Gas Generating Station, Energy Ottawa (Ottawa), 5 MW. Energy Ottawa Inc. is a wholly owned subsidiary of Hydro Ottawa Holding Inc.
- Umbata Falls Hydroelectric Project, a partnership of the Pic River First Nation and Innergex II Income Fund (on White River, near Marathon), 23 MW.
- Glen Miller Hydroelectric Project, Innergex II Income Fund, (Trenton), 8 MW.
- Hamilton Digester Gas, Hamilton Community Energy, (Hamilton), 1.60 MW.
Advised Rodan Energy & Metering Solutions Inc. in relation to preparation of demand response contracts with load customers.
Advised Enersource Corporation on potential acquisition of renewable and gas-fired generation assets.
Advised Enersource Corporation on connection arrangements with Greater Toronto Airport Authority gas-fired cogeneration facility.
PROJECTS, M&A AND CORPORATE/COMMERCIAL TRANSACTIONS
Advised Cambridge North Dumfries Hydro Inc. on the purchase of Brant County Hydro Inc., including responding to the request for proposals, negotiating the share purchase agreement and conducting due diligence.
Advised Transeastern Power Trust on its initial public offering in support of the acquisition of three hydroelectric power projects in Romania, comprising 11 run-of-river hydroelectric plants with a total capacity of over 5.1 MW.
Advised Ghana Grid Company Limited on 50,000,000 euro financing in relation to expansion of the Ghanaian transmission network to facilitate electricity exports and interconnection with neighbouring jurisdictions.
Advised Just Energy on purchase of renewable energy credits.
Advised Special Committee of Board of London Hydro regarding strategic options for London Hydro.
Advised City of Guelph in relation to potential merger of Guelph Hydro Electric Systems Inc. with Horizon Utilities Corporation.
Advised Milton Hydro Telecom Inc. on sale of telecom business to Blink Communications Inc.
Advised London Hydro Inc. on corporate governance matters.
Advised Oshawa Power and Utilities Corporation on $30 million debt refinancing.
Advised Erie Thames Power Corporation and St. Thomas Energy Holdings Inc. on joint response to RFP for sale of Haldimand Hydro, including preparation of bid documents and draft purchase agreement.
Advised Erie Thames Power Corporation and St. Thomas Energy Holdings Inc. on joint response to RFP for sale of Gravenhurst Hydro, including preparation of bid documents and draft purchase agreement.
Negotiated and drafted, on behalf of Enersource, an IRU/fibre purchase agreement together with related ancillary agreements including sub-licence, non-disturbance agreement, and agreements for licensed occupancy of support structures.
Negotiated and drafted a 20-year agreement for the construction and provision of a high-capacity fibre optics network for the benefit of over 300 school sites and 200,000 students and staff spanning two Ontario cities.
Advised First Source Energy Inc. on sale of business, including RFP process and assignment of $200,000,000 of retail electricity contracts and wholesale electricity supply arrangements.
Advised First Source Energy Inc. on $250,000,000 of wholesale and retail electricity purchase transactions, including transactions under ISDA financial swap documentation.
Advised William Osler Health Centre in Toronto on one of Canada's first hospital public-private partnerships. Work includes the provision of procurement advice and the drafting of contractual and other documentation to facilitate the design, construction and financing of a 608 bed acute care hospital and the long-term provision of non-clinical services by a private sector consortium.
Advised Six Nations aboriginal group in Ontario, Canada in respect of negotiation and preparation of building contracts, material purchases, bonding and insurance arrangements, and financial arrangements for construction of Day Care Facility.
Advised private investor in relation to corporatization and privatization of a gold mine by the Government of Ethiopia. Negotiated and drafted purchase agreement, concession agreement and related documents.
Structured $1,500,000 secured loan to brokerage firm with warrants to purchase up to 50% equity interest.
Advised venture capital firm and prepared share purchase agreement, shareholders' agreement and related documents in respect of $10,000,000 purchase of 60% equity interest in private energy services company.
Advised communications company in respect of private placement of special warrants. Transaction valued at $5,500,000.
Represented U.S. and Canadian technology services units of large multinational in respect of purchases of assets of three related technology solutions companies. Transaction valued at approximately $25,000,000.
Acted for publicly-listed transportation company in respect of amalgamation of certain partially-owned subsidiaries through court-approved plan of arrangement.
Seconded to General Electric Canada for four months. Advised on labour issues, distributorship agreements, contractual disputes and labeling issues.
Advised various companies on issues relating to corporate websites, including disclaimers, hyperlinks, potential liability, jurisdiction and continuous disclosure matters.
GOVERNANCE, LEGISLATIVE AND POLICY MATTERS
Advising the World Bank Group and the Government of Iraq as Legal Specialist to assess the current performance of Iraq's distribution sector and develop a roadmap for reform, as well as examine its possible eventual commercialization, corporatization and/or privatization.
Advising Ghana Grid Company Limited on preparation, negotiation and drafting of agreement governing connection of electricity generators to Ghana’s transmission network.
Advising Ghana Grid Company Limited in relation to development of Market Rules for Ghanaian electricity system.
Prepared program rules and related documentation for Independent Electricity System Operator's Community Energy Partnerships Program and Aboriginal Renewable Energy Fund.
Advised Burlington Hydro on structuring of boards of directors of regulated distributor and unregulated affiliates and compliance with Affiliates Relationships Code.
Advised Saudi Arabian electricity and water utility in relation to establishment and governance of regulator and initial rate structure.
Counsel on restructuring and unbundling of significant portion of the electricity distribution sector in Ontario. Advised over 25 municipalities and electricity commissions on corporatization of their electricity assets and merging of municipal electric utilities to form a single distribution company and affiliated companies, including advice on shareholders' agreement, transfer by-laws, corporate structure, governance, labour matters, Ontario Energy Board Standard Supply Service Code and Affiliate Relationships Code, share structure, articles of incorporation and obtaining necessary licences and registrations.
Advised Hydro Mississauga, Whitby Hydro, St. Catharines Hydro, London Hydro, Oshawa and Bluewater Hydro regarding establishment of a corporation to retail the electricity commodity, including advice on shareholders' agreement, labour matters, Affiliate Relationships Code, share structure, articles of incorporation and obtaining necessary licences and registrations.
Chaired Ontario Energy Association's Bill 100 Task Force, representing a broad spectrum of Ontario's energy industry. Coordinated and provided comments on legislation creating the current electricity market.
As part of SEETEC (Southeastern Europe Electrical System Technical Support Project) consortium funded by the Canadian International Development Agency:
- Advised the Government of Albania and the Albanian vertically integrated electricity utility (KESH) on the unbundling of its vertically integrated electricity utility and the establishment of a separate transmission company and transmission system operator.
- Advised the governments of Bosnia and Herzegovina on the incorporation and establishment of a Single Transmission Company.
- Advised the Government of Macedonia and the Macedonian vertically integrated electricity utility (ESM) on the unbundling of its utility and the establishment of a separate transmission company and transmission system operator.
- Developed legal and regulatory aspects of a conceptual framework for unbundling and corporatizing a transmission system operator for application throughout Southeastern Europe.
Advised coalition of major electricity wholesalers, generators and retailers in developing strategies and policy in connection with the Electricity Pricing Conservation and Supply Act (Ontario) to preserve Ontario's wholesale electricity market.
Advised the Distributors' Electricity Efficiency Policy Group (the "DEEP Group"), a coalition of major Ontario electricity distribution companies (Enersource Hydro Mississauga, London Hydro, Hydro Vaughan, Oshawa PUC, Erie Thames Powerlines, Essex Power, Barrie Hydro and Oakville Hydro) on strategic and policy matters relating to the reform of Ontario's electricity markets and commercial opportunities and projects.
Advised Canadian oil company on compliance with UN sanctions regime in relation to investments in North Africa.
As Canadian diplomat with Canada's Mission to the European Union:
- Analyzed European Union aviation policy developments, including "open skies" agreement with United States.
- Represented Canadian interests to the European Commission and EU Member States.
- Interpreted and analyzed EU regulatory and policy developments in energy, transport and environmental sectors.
- Member of Canadian delegation to Energy Charter Treaty negotiations on liberalization of the energy sector in Central and Eastern Europe and the Former Soviet Union.
As legal counsel to Department of Foreign Affairs and International Trade:
- Negotiated implementation of Labour and Environmental NAFTA Side Accords with the United States and Mexico.
- Established structures and governance of North American Commission on Labour Cooperation and North American Commission on Environmental Cooperation.
- Assisted in drafting Canadian legislation on foreign overfishing beyond maritime boundaries.