Canadian Lawyer InHouse

24 www.canadianlawyermag.com/inhouse oversees the administration of the contract management system and the access information privacy and information management framework. INHOUSE: How do you work with other members of the executive team at VIA Rail? LEGAULT: We work with the executive team members through weekly and monthly meetings, which allows me to address the status of ongoing material legal and risk management initiatives, and it also helps me make sure I can reach out for their support if necessary and discuss their views and concerns to make sure we are supporting their annual business objectives. In addition to those meetings, I have ongoing communica- tions with colleagues in order to manage their expectations. INHOUSE: How do you plan to deal with risk management and compliance? LEGAULT: As a federal Crown corporation, everything around compliance is obviously important at VIA Rail. If we are not complying [with] laws and regulations enacted by our shareholder, it can very quickly have a negative impact on our reputation. Also, we have to be cognizant that whenever there is an impact to our reputation there can also be an impact to the reputation of our shareholder, the Government of Canada, so we are very much focused on compliance and managing reputational risk. I strongly encourage my legal and risk management teams to provide overall business advice when they are interacting with the operations teams. It's really important that we always think of the impact that our advice has on VIA Rail and the Government of Canada's reputation. From a compliance perspective, we have to make sure that when new laws and regulations come out, we are kicking the ball early to determine which areas of our operations are impacted and launch an action plan to address them. For example, the Accessibility Canada Act aims to make Canada a barrier-free country as it relates to accessibility to different modes of transport for people with physical or cognitive disabilities, so we have quickly teamed up with our colleagues to ensure compliance of our passenger rail services, including access to our trains and stations. INHOUSE: How do you approach working with external counsel and in which areas? LEGAULT: As a federal Crown corporation, we're dependent on budgetary appropriations from the Government of Canada to fund passenger rail services, so we are cognizant that we're managing taxpayers' dollars, so we strive to build business relationships that are meaningful with law firms and maximize the value they bring from a cost and expertise perspective. We deal with a select group of firms across the country that we use mostly for commer- cial litigation and human rights claims. However, the majority of legal work is done internally, and we seek additional support specifically for certain modernization projects where we feel we need external counsel to bring expertise that's outside of the rail industry. INHOUSE: What goals do you have for your legal department in 2020? LEGAULT: Our goals are to continue to support VIA Rail's modernization strategy and initiatives, especially for its two major projects: the new fleet and the High Frequency Rail. The legal and risk department is also looking to develop a three-year strategic plan with a review of its mission, values and objectives in order to continue to provide efficient advice and remain relevant in VIA Rail's ever-chang- ing transformational environment. VIEW 2020 presented by SPECIAL REPORT

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