Mark Warner was featured on the CBC Weekend Business Panel talking about the deadline for the repayment of loans under the Canada Emergency Business Account program, Hertz’s plans to sell a third of its US electric vehicle fleet and reinvest in gas-powered cars and the Securities and Exchange Commission approving several spot bitcoin exchange-traded funds. (January 13, 2023) Mr. Warner is a Canadian and U.S. lawyer who has practiced in Toronto, Washington, D.C., New York and Brussels and has advised governments on trade policy and trade negotiations and previously worked on trade and competition issues as counsel in the OECD Trade Directorate in Paris.

Mark is a former Legal Director of the Ontario Ministry of Economic Development & Trade and led the Ontario’s legal team for the insolvency / restructuring of General Motors and Chrysler, and various grant and loan agreements to leading automotive and automotive parts companies, including to electric car battery manufacturer, Electrovaya and a Better Place demonstration centre and electric vehicle charging station network. Mr. Warner also provided advice to the Government of Ontario on the design of the Green Energy Act and related WTO dispute settlement proceedings. More recently, Mark has assisted with an electrical vehicle battery manufacturing contractual dispute. As a former Acting Legal Director for the Ontario Ministry of Consumer Services, Mark was responsible for prosecutions under the provincial consumer protection laws and regulations and advising on the Motor Vehicle Dealers Act and regulating the Ontario Motor Vehicle Industry Council.

As a former Legal Director of the Ontario Ministry of Research & Innovation, Mark was responsible for establishing the Ontario Capital Growth Corporation (OCGC) and providing corporate governance legal advice and secretarial support to its Board of Directors. Mark also led Ontario’s legal team in creating the $250 million Ontario Emerging Technologies Fund, the $205 million Ontario Venture Capital Fund and establishing the Ontario Capital Growth Corporation.

In addition to being a lawyer, Mr. Warner has a Masters Degree in International Economics from the University of Toronto.