Tag Archives: Canadian Competition Lawyer

Mark Warner was interviewed on the CBC Weekend Business Panel about “negative oil” prices, concerns for businesses as jurisdictions begin to re-open, price gouging lawsuits and increased foreign investment screening in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic. (April 25, 2020) Mr. Warner 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 and previously worked on trade and competition issues as counsel in the OECD Trade Directorate. Mr. Warner has provided competition law advice to a major oil company concerning oil refining and retail distribution in North America and on the first ever post-accession EC notification of a merger involving two of Central Europe’s largest refiners of crude oil and has participated in complex securities / antitrust investigations by the SEC and DOJ. Mr. Warner has also participated in an international arbitration relating to the expropriation of the assets of a U.S.-based oil company in Libya and related issues under applicable sanctions and foreign asset control rules.

Mr. Warner was Legal Director of the Ontario Ministry of Economic Development & Trade and led the Province’s legal team for the insolvency / restructuring of General Motors and Chrysler in the difficult context of the 2008-2009 Recession. As Legal Director was responsible for negotiating and drafting Government of Ontario grant and loan agreements to leading global companies for jobs, investment, research and manufacturing projects in Ontario, including for clean energy (solar and wind) and advising on the adoption of the Green Energy Act (Ontario) and a WTO challenge by Japan to its domestic content provisions. 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 Warner was interviewed on the CBC Weekend Business Panel about the economic, legal and regulatory aspects of the COVID-19 virus bailout efforts in Canada and the United States. (March 28, 2020) Mr. Warner 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 and previously worked on trade and competition issues as counsel in the OECD Trade Directorate. Mr. Warner was Legal Director of the Ontario Ministry of Economic Development & Trade and led the Province’s legal team for the insolvency / restructuring of General Motors and Chrysler in the difficult context of the 2008-2009 Recession. As Legal Director of the Ontario Ministry of Research and Innovation, Mr. Warner 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. 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 Warner was interviewed on the CBC Weekend Business Panel about the COVID-19 pandemic, the impact on the global economy and the challenges to Canadian governments in responding. (March 14, 2020) Mr. Warner 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 and previously worked on trade and competition issues as counsel in the OECD Trade Directorate. Mr. Warner was Legal Director of the Ontario Ministry of Economic Development & Trade and led the Province’s legal team for the insolvency / restructuring of General Motors and Chrysler in the difficult context of the 2008-2009 Recession. As Legal Director of the Ontario Ministry of Research and Innovation, Mr. Warner 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. 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 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.

Mark Warner was quoted in the Canadian Bar Association National Magazine about Reforming the Canadian Competition Bureau. (December 13, 2019) Mark is a Canadian and U.S. lawyer who has practiced in Toronto, Washington, DC and New York and has advised governments on competition law and policy. As counsel at the OECD Trade Directorate, Mark advised on on other trade and competition issues and represented the OECD at meetings of the WTO Working Group on Trade and Competition and Working Group on Trade and Investment. 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. He has been listed in the Euromoney / International Financial Law Review Guide to the World’s Leading Competition lawyers. In 2015, Mark was elected a Fellow of the American Bar Foundation. Mark is also a former Acting Legal Director of the Ontario Ministry of Consumer Services and was responsible for prosecutions under the Consumer Protection Act (Ontario).

Mark Warner was interviewed on the Canada Talks SiriusXM 167 Arlene Bynun Show about the Canadian Government’s proposals to delete Switzerland and the United States from index of countries used to set drug prices in Canada. (August 12, 2019) These proposals have implications for President Trump’s proposals to facilitate the import of certain drugs from Canada, and are similar to proposals under discussion between President Trump and Congress and may factor in the ongoing efforts to pass the United States Mexico Canada Agreement (USMCA) / (NAFTA 2.0). Mr. Warner was Legal Director of the Ontario Ministry of Economic Development & Trade and advised Ontario in the negotiation of the Canada – EU Trade Agreement (CETA) including on drug pricing and patent appeals and on other trade and investment negotiation and dispute settlement matters including NAFTA . Mr. Warner, a Canadian and U.S. lawyer, has advised pharmaceutical companies on pricing, distribution and other competition and trade matters. Mr. Warner has also governments on trade policy and trade negotiations and previously worked on trade and competition issues as counsel in the OECD Trade Directorate.

Mark Warner was interviewed by the Canadian Press about Bombardier’s debarment risks under the Canadian government Integrity Regime for public procurement following its bid-rigging conviction in Brazil. (July 9, 2019)  Mr. Warner was Legal Director of the Ontario Ministry of Economic Development & Trade providing strategic legal advice with respect to the Ontario’s economic development, research and innovation grants and loans to corporations including Bombardier. In addition, Mr. Warner provided advice to the Government of Ontario on NAFTA and WTO trade and investment negotiations and dispute settlement matters, including the Agreement on Internal Trade and the Canada-U.S. Agreement on Government Procurement. Mr. Warner, a Canadian and U.S. lawyer, advises governments, companies and industry associations on trade policy and trade negotiations and previously worked on trade and competition issues as counsel in the OECD Trade Directorate, including trade law advice on the OECD Export Credits Arrangement.

Mark Warner discussed the new bid to take over Air Transat, Canada-China trade dispute developments, the potential sale of Bombardier‘s regional jet program and Toronto Raptors Kawhi Leonard / Nike copyright / trademark law suit on the CC Weekend Business Panel. (June 8, 2019) Mark was Legal Director of the Ontario Ministry of Economic Development & Trade advising on trade negotiations and dispute settlement and on economic development, research and innovation grants and loans to corporations, including Huawei. Mr. Warner, a Canadian and American lawyer,  previously worked on trade and competition issues as counsel in the OECD Trade Directorate. 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 is an original ICANN domain name dispute arbitrator and current WIPO domain name neutral.

Mark Warner was invited to participate in the Canadian Competition Bureau Data Forum in Ottawa on May 30th, 2019. The workshop featured speakers from business, academia, the legal community, and government, both domestic and international. Participants discussed: the role of antitrust in keeping pace with digital platforms; the boundaries between privacy and competition; the future of data portability and interoperability; and the regulatory and enforcement landscape.

Mark chaired an Insight Research Canadian Sharing Economy Symposium in Toronto in 2015. 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 Warner was interviewed on Newstalk 1010 discusses the issues involved in the decision of the Director of Public Prosecutions not to invite SNC-Lavalin to negotiate a “remediation agreement” (deferred prosecution agreement) in connection with certain criminal charges in relation to the Corruption of Foreign Public Officials Act. (February 28, 2019) Mr. Warner 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. Mr. Warner worked on trade and competition issues as counsel in the OECD Trade Directorate and participated in the negotiation of the OECD Anti-Bribery Convention. Mr. Warner was also Legal Director of the Ontario Ministry of Economic Development & Trade led the Province’s legal team for the insolvency / restructuring of General Motors and Chrysler, led Ontario’s legal team in the CETA negotiations, provided advice on the design of the Green Energy Act and related WTO dispute settlement proceedings, advised on various NAFTA Chapter 11 investor-state arbitration and on procurement issues in the Canada-U.S. Agreement on Government Procurement. 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.