Tag Archives: Artificial Intelligence

Mark Warner was featured on the CBC Weekend Business Panel talking about The Body Shop closing one-third of of its Canadian stores and sits online sales, Wendy’s surge pricing announcement reversal. and Cineplex Inc.’s online booking fees and the Competition Bureau’s “drip pricing” test case in the Competition Tribunal. (March 2, 2024) 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, and represented the OECD at meetings of the WTO Working Groups on Trade and Competition Policies and Trade and Investment Policies.

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. As Legal Director for the Ontario Ministry of Research & Innovation (MRI), Mr. Warner led Ontario’s legal team in establishing the Ontario Capital Growth Corporation (OCGC). As Legal Director for the Ontario MRI, Mr. Warner also provided corporate governance legal advice and secretarial support to the OCGC Board of Directors, as well as to the Board of Directors of the Ontario Immigrant Investor Corporation, and other agencies administered by the Ministries.

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 introduction of the Province’s pay day lending laws, the administration of the Motor Vehicle Dealers Act and regulating the Ontario Motor Vehicle Industry Council. In 2015, Mark chaired a first of its kind international conference in Toronto on competition and consumer protection issues in the Sharing Economy.

Mark Warner was featured on the CBC Weekend Business Panel talking about record high rent increases in Canada, striking ride-share and food delivery drivers, and Air Canada being found liable for its chatbot‘s incorrect advice on the airline’s bereavement ticket rates. (February 17, 2024) 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, and represented the OECD at meetings of the WTO Working Groups on Trade and Competition Policies and Trade and Investment Policies.

Mark is a former Legal Director of the Ontario Ministry of Economic Development & Trade. As Legal Director for the Ontario Ministry of Research & Innovation, Mr. Warner 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. 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 introduction of the Province’s pay day lending laws, the administration of the Motor Vehicle Dealers Act and regulating the Ontario Motor Vehicle Industry Council. In 2015, Mark chaired a first of its kind international conference in Toronto on competition and consumer protection issues in the Sharing Economy.

Mark is a past Chair of the International and Economics Committees of the American Bar Association Section of Antitrust Law as well as a member of the Section’s Task Forces on Competition Policy and NAFTA and Antitrust in the Global Economy. In addition to being a lawyer, Mr. Warner has a Masters Degree in International Economics from the University of Toronto.

Mark Warner was interviewed by the Financial Post about Canada and the proposed new U.S. rules prohibiting venture capital and private equity firms from pumping more money into Chinese efforts to develop semiconductors and other microelectronics, quantum computers and certain artificial intelligence applications. (August 15, 2023) Mark is a Canadian and U.S. lawyer who has practiced in Toronto, Washington, DC and New York and has advised governments on trade and investment policy and negotiations. Mark previously worked on trade and competition issues as counsel in the OECD Trade Directorate, and participated in the negotiations of the proposed Multilateral Agreement on Investment and represented the OECD at meetings of the WTO Working Groups on Trade and Competition Policies and Trade and Investment Policies. 

Mark was Legal Director of the Ontario Ministry of Economic Development & Trade and led Ontario’s legal team for trade negotiations (including the Canada-EU Trade Agreement and the Canada-U.S. Agreement on Government Procurement), advised on trade disputes (including the Green Energy Act and softwood lumber) and various NAFTA Chapter 11 investor-state arbitration matters (including the Ambassador Bridge, Adam’s Mine and St. Mary’s Cement claims) and Investment Canada Act reviews.

As Legal Director for the Ontario Ministry of Research & Innovation, Mr. Warner 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.

As MEDT Legal Director, Mark advised on economic development, research and innovation grants and loans to corporations, including Chinese telecommunications firm, Huawei. Mark has been an adviser to the Governments of Cambodia, Indonesia, Thailand and Vietnam on competition and trade policy and at the invitation of the U.S. Department of State lectured in five cities in Japan on international antitrust law and policy.

Mark Warner was featured in an article The Logic about Canada and the proposed new U.S. rules prohibiting venture capital and private equity firms from pumping more money into Chinese efforts to develop semiconductors and other microelectronics, quantum computers and certain artificial intelligence applications. (August 10, 2023) Mark is a Canadian and U.S. lawyer who has practiced in Toronto, Washington, DC and New York and has advised governments on trade and investment policy and negotiations and previously worked on trade and competition issues as counsel in the OECD Trade Directorate, and participated in the negotiations of the proposed Multilateral Agreement on Investment and represented the OECD at meetings of the WTO Working Groups on Trade and Competition Policies and Trade and Investment Policies. 

Mark was Legal Director of the Ontario Ministry of Economic Development & Trade and led Ontario’s legal team for trade negotiations (including the Canada-EU Trade Agreement and the Canada-U.S. Agreement on Government Procurement), advised on trade disputes (including the Green Energy Act and softwood lumber) and various NAFTA Chapter 11 investor-state arbitration matters (including the Ambassador Bridge, Adam’s Mine and St. Mary’s Cement claims) and Investment Canada Act reviews.

As MEDT Legal Director, Mark advised on economic development, research and innovation grants and loans to corporations, including Chinese telecommunications firm, Huawei. Mark has been an adviser to the Governments of Cambodia, Indonesia, Thailand and Vietnam on competition and trade policy and at the invitation of the U.S. Department of State lectured in five cities in Japan on international antitrust law and policy. As Assistant Director of the University of Baltimore’s Centre for International and Comparative Law, Mark hired a Chinese scholar to begin a research program on reforming anti-monopoly law in China, one of the first such efforts at the time. He is frequently interviewed in print, radio and television on the Trans-Pacific Partnership Trade Agreement.

Mark Warner was featured on the CBC Weekend Business Panel talking about inflation, interest rates and housing costs, pumping the breaks on the latest fusion energy breakthrough and the prospects for the ChatGPT artificial intelligence chatbot replacing humans in professional services. (December 17, 2022) 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 negotiated and drafted grant and loan agreements to leading global companies for jobs, investment, research and manufacturing projects in Ontario, including for: clean energy (solar and wind) manufacturing and hybrid and clean vehicle technologies. As Legal Director of the Ontario Ministry of Research & Innovation, Mr. Warner led Ontario’s legal team in creating the $250 million Ontario Emerging Technologies Fund (focused in part on clean energy technologies), the $205 million Ontario Venture Capital Fund and establishing the Ontario Capital Growth Corporation.

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. Mark’s experience with online technologies and e-commerce includes: participating in OECD-wide policy work on laws and regulations affecting e-commerce, acting as Chair, ICC Competition Commission Working Party on E-Commerce and Competition Policy, serving as an original ICANN domain name dispute resolution arbitrator for eResolution and WIPO and as Rapporteur of the Hague Conference on Private International Law Commission on Jurisdiction for Torts in Electronic Commerce.

Mark is a past Chair of the International and Economics Committees of the American Bar Association Section of Antitrust Law as well as a member of the Section’s Task Forces on Competition Policy and NAFTA and Antitrust in the Global Economy. In addition to being a lawyer, Mr. Warner has a Masters Degree in Economics from the University of Toronto.

Mark Warner gives a “Crystal ball” outlook for 2020, lessons learned in 2019 and a possible ‘Black Swan’ event on the CBC Weekend Business Panel. (December 28, 2019) Lessons learned in 2019 include the importance of compliance and corporate governance issues. Predictions for 2020 include the continuation of U.S.-China and Canada-China trade tensions and increasing regulatory focus on Big Tech. The possible Black Swan event relates to the possible failure of the U.S. Senate to pass the United States Mexico Canada Agreement (USMCA) / NAFTA 2.0.

Mark is a Canadian and U.S. lawyer who has practiced in Toronto, Washington, DC and New York and has advised governments on trade policy and trade negotiations. As counsel at the OECD Trade Directorate, Mark advised on harmful tax competition issues and worked on other trade and competition issues. As Legal Director for the Ontario Ministry of Research & Innovation, Mark 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. As Legal Director of the Ontario Ministry of Economic Development & Trade Mark provided strategic legal advice with respect to the Ontario’s economic development, research and innovation grants and loans to corporations and led Ontario’s legal team for trade negotiations and trade and investment disputes. Mark is also a former Acting Legal Director of the Ontario Ministry of Consumer Services which provided oversight to the Alcohol and Gaming Commission of Ontario (AGCO) and the Vintners Quality Alliance Ontario (VQA) He is co-author of a leading Canadian trade law treatise, has also published numerous articles and has been invited to speak at conferences around the world.