Canadian Lawyer InHouse

41 CANADIANLAWYERMAG.COM/INHOUSE JULY 2015 then hired her full-time. "One of the reasons I was hired was because I was a bilingual lawyer," she says, "and would be able to argue cases in Quebec. I did that for a couple of years." Canada Post, which had recently been transformed from a government department to a Crown corporation, had about a dozen lawyers when Boretsky joined; it now has 27, in addition to her, evenly divided between labour and commercial practitioners. When she fi rst joined CPC, all the lawyers were based at the head offi ce in Ottawa; soon afterward, they posted lawyers in Montreal, Toronto, and Vancouver. As for her 30-year tenure, "I can't say I came here with the intent to stay, but it was always suffi ciently intriguing, enjoyable, and challenging here that I never really looked anywhere else." She was, however, tempted at times to move within CPC, say, to head labour relations or even into op- erations. (She did a stint as chief of staff to Moya Greene after the latter was appointed CPC's president and CEO in 2005.) Boretsky's most enjoyable experiences at CPC have been when she's been assigned to multi-disciplinary teams, primarily in labour negotiations, but also on other big "transformational projects" the corporation was doing. "You're working with a team of 15 or 30 people, focused on one common goal, with no distractions. It's very intense. You get to know not only the people, but their areas of expertise; you deepen your understanding of the company's challenges and goals, and how you bring your expertise to bear to attain those goals." IH P ro f e s s i o n a l P ro f i l e SECOND SNAPSHOT T H E L AW Y E R Bonnie Boretsky T H E C O M PA N Y Canada Post Corp. • Vice president, general counsel, corporate secretary & compliance, Canada Post Corp. (since 2008); • Vice president, compliance, Canada Post Corp. (2007-2008); • Chief of staff to the president and CEO, Canada Post Corp. (2005-2007); • Assistant general counsel, Canada Post Corp. (1999-2005); • Regional senior counsel, Canada Post Corp. (1997-1999); • Legal counsel, Canada Post Corp. (1984-1997); and • Law degree from University of Ottawa, (1979). appealed. Eventually, the Supreme Court of Canada issued a rare oral decision in 2011, ordering CPC to pay additional wages to close the gap for the years 1982 to 2002, plus interest. Two more years of wrangling over the amount of the interest followed, before cheques started to be sent out. Boretsky was aware of, but not close to, the pay equity case until she became gen- eral counsel. "Then leave to appeal to the Supreme Court was granted, and we all got a little nervous," she says. "We won twice — in Federal Court and Federal Court of Ap- peal — so obviously some justices thought that what Canada Post did was right." What shocked her most about the outcome was that the Supreme Court justices deliberated only 20 minutes before rendering their decision from the bench. She was attending a board meeting of CPC subsidiary Purolator Inc. at the time. "My BlackBerry was ringing off the hook. I didn't look at it. What could be so urgent? We knew that the [SCC] hearing was going on, but we didn't expect to have a decision right away." Another key episode involving Boretsky was the four-year collective bargaining pact that Canada Post reached in October 2012 with CUPW, representing 48,000 workers. The agreement came nearly two years after contract talks fi rst began, and had run into rotating strikes, a lockout, back-to-work legislation, and the disqualifi cation of two federally appointed arbitrators. Ultimately, the two sides returned to the bargaining table without an arbitrator and cut a deal. "We put in a lower offer than we had made before, basically to position ourselves for an arbitration," Boretsky says. "Somehow that brought the union back to the table. Why? Maybe they thought they'd do better with us than with an arbitrator appointed by a Conservative government." Boretsky who was born in Montreal, embraced a legal career at a young age. "It's a pretty goofy story," she says. "In elementary school, we had to stand up in front of the class and say what we wanted to be. To be different, I said I wanted to be a lawyer. Nobody in my family was a lawyer. But that was it. My path was dictated, and I never really veered from it." When she fi nished her law degree at University of Ottawa, she "had her heart set on practising labour law." She worked for two years in Montreal for a small law fi rm as a junior labour lawyer acting for unions. When another lawyer who had been off having a baby returned, the fi rm had one junior lawyer too many, and Boretsky found herself seeking a new position during a recession. She moved to Ottawa to resume her LL.M studies, but found a job with the Canadian Union of Public Employees as a grievance offi cer. But she kept doing the rounds of law departments, eventually meeting with the general counsel of Canada Post. CPC gave her two six-month contracts In elementary school, we had to stand up in front of the class and say what we wanted to be. To be different, I said I wanted to be a lawyer. Nobody in my family was a lawyer. But that was it. My path was dictated, and I never really veered from it. BONNIE BORETSKY '' ''

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