Canadian Lawyer InHouse

JULY 2015 30 INHOUSE Energy. "We still have over 80,000 barrels a day going to market and all the employees that go with that," he says. It may be business as usual for some but the current economic circumstances are creating a somewhat dif - ferent focus for some legal departments when it comes to what work they are doing. "Com- panies have cut back on capital spending on a lot of projects," says Borbridge "It's not that they won't be completed but it may mean de- lays, postponement, or cancellation." That means lawyers in-house find them- selves working with the various service pro- viders and vendors to postpone or terminate those arrangements. "That's something that hasn't been a focus of activity for some time," says Borbridge. With business somewhat slower, legal departments are doing proactive work in other areas. "We're taking the opportunity to educate internal clients such as the pro - curement group and those involved in nego- tiations about how to have tough conversa- tions," he says. The legal department at MEG Energy de- cided to let one lawyer's contract expire and Borbridge says he won't staff up again until there is "a little more stability in the industry." At Capital Power in Edmonton, the slow - down in the oil patch has had an impact on operations with the power producer. "All business in Alberta is to some extent reli- ant on the energy industry. If you're not A sk those in the oil patch how things are these days and they will probably take a deep breath and pause before launching into a careful answer that goes something like this: Things are "OK" but it's a different time indeed. All those projects that were in play a year ago may now be on hold or being restructured. For their colleagues in Canada's North, their work towards developing and renewing infrastructure continues to be a challenge but one they love. Overall, the picture for Canada's western and northern region is still one of break - ing new ground and the work for legal de- partments only becomes more challenging as they are asked to help business happen. "There is a different climate in town than there was six months ago," says Grant Bor- bridge, vice president, legal, general coun- sel, and corporate secretary at MEG Energy in Calgary. "It changes the tone of every- thing from social activities to discussions in meetings, but I think people who have been around a while understand it's a cycli- cal industry. Once you've lived through two or three cycles, it becomes something you learn how to manage." In many respects, Borbridge says it is busi - ness as usual for many companies, like MEG employed in it directly, you are providing services to it," says Kate Chisholm, senior vice president legal and external relations at Capital Power. "You want to be introducing new supply into this market when demand dictates, and so everyone is watching oil prices very carefully." Capital Power is developing a number of projects including, in partnership with Enmax Corp., Genesee 4 and 5 which will have a generation capacity just over 1,050 megawatts. It was announced in January that all major regulatory approvals had been received to proceed with construction of the facility, located west of Edmonton. Previously, Capital Power had expected demand to increase at a certain rate given the rate of growth in Fort McMurray and with upgrader projects. "We had previously said that project could hit commercial operation as soon as 2018 but given what's going on here and the fact many of those projects are being delayed somewhat because their commercial operation dates are also dictated by demand in oil or natural gas or natural gas liquids, we're keeping an eye on the market to see how soon we need to bring that on. We also have wind sites and some biomass sites." The economic changes in Alberta aren't translating into cuts in Capital Power's legal department of 25 lawyers, it just means a juggling where lawyers are working and Managing between WAVES BY JENNIFER BROWN After years of managing in a boom economy in-house lawyers in Western Canada and the North are still busy, but adjusting to a different pace.

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