Background

Pierrette Sinclair is Counsel in our Montreal office. She was admitted to the Québec Bar in 1960 and received her L.L.L. from the Université de Montréal. Ms. Sinclair earned a Doctorate of law from McGill University in 1977.

Practice areas

• Ms. Sinclair is a member of our Corporate Commercial group. Her practice focuses on energy and environmental law as well as the exploitation of natural resources such as gas, water, forests and mines.

Professional experience

• Ms. Sinclair has an extensive experience in the development and financing of projects for the production, distribution and supply of electricity. She has a thorough knowledge of matters linked to the establishment and operation of energy production works from renewable sources, including hydroelectric projects, wind power, cogeneration and biomass projects.
• She worked for 14 years as legal counsel for Hydro-Québec. She has represented numerous clients in transactions dealing with energy, the electricity and gas industries, water law including the management of the resource and its multiple uses.
• Ms. Sinclair acted for multinational and Canadian businesses in the context of hydroelectric, wind power and cogeneration projects, more particularly in the development of such projects, the related regulation as well as environmental matters.
• In the area of energy law, water rights and natural resources rights, Ms. Sinclair advises her clients on a series of legal questions, including compliance with the regulatory aspects, mergers and acquisitions, land claims and related rights of Native Peoples, the protection of water resources under the Environment Quality Act and the Canadian Environmental Protection Act, and the preparation of administrative procedures linked to the sale and transfer of sites and energy production facilities.
• Ms. Sinclair also represents her clients before various administrative bodies. She takes an active part in the negotiation of sale and purchase agreements related to power for energy producers and for large industrial clients; she also represents clients in the matter of power transportation.

Representative mandates

• Ms. Sinclair worked as advisor on the relocation of the Inuit aboriginal people pursuant to the James Bay Agreement and in Northern Québec, in the context of negotiations between the federal government, the Québec government and Hydro-Québec.
• She provided legal advice on the implementation of the Canada/U.S.A. Free Trade Agreement on water rights and royalties.
• She represented an important group of European investors and wind energy producers who settled in New Brunswick and Québec, in the context of wind energy projects. Ms. Sinclair also gave strategic advice on all applicable legislation and regulation.
• She advised a multinational company on the strategic aspects of a wind power development project and analyzed the validity of the options and surface right titles.
• She was responsible for the acquisition, by an American multinational company, of a group of spring water bottling plants; in that context, she led the due diligence process, analyzed the policies related to the regulation of ground water as well as the legislation and regulation applicable.
• She represented a multinational company with respect to its responsibilities and obligations towards hydroelectric works and undertakings and its reservoir structures, including the preparation of interventions before a Commission of Inquiry following major floods in the Saguenay region.
• She acted on behalf of an energy producing company that used a waterway situated partly in Québec and partly in Ontario, in the context of its relations with abutters, citizens' groups and the government of each province.
• She acted as spokesperson for Hydro-Québec in the study by the International Joint Commission of the basin level of the Great Lakes and the St-Lawrence River. In this mandate, Ms. Sinclair wrote factums and represented the interests of Hydro-Québec in public hearings.
• She took part in negotiations with the government of Ontario on the sharing of rights and obligations related to an interprovincial waterway, and provided the legal support in this file.
• She advised clients and took part in negotiations with many Québec government ministries, including the Ministry of Natural Resources and Wildlife (ministère des Ressources naturelles et de la Faune); the Ministry of Sustainable Development, Environment and Parks (ministère du Développement durable, de l'Environnement et des Parcs) and the Ministry of Transportation (ministère des Transports) with respect to the acquisition of rights linked to the establishment and operation of major energy projects, including the lands and easements necessary for the works and access routes.
• She negotiated with the Québec government and took part in the preparation of contractual legal documents concerning the transfer of the State's water supply rights to private developers, the implementation of invitation to tender mechanisms, the choice of developers, the selection criteria, the organization of invitations to tender, and the terms and conditions of financial guarantees. She also helped to establish the government's policy and to prepare all the documents necessary to return facilities to the State and the relevant consultation mechanisms in connection therewith.
• She played a major role in the negotiation of a framework agreement with the government of Québec for the acquisition of the rights necessary to establish large and medium-size hydroelectric power projects.
• She presided and/or sat on a tri-member tribunal which had to decide on fee structures, conditions of supply and all other issues related to the gas distribution monopoly in the Québec distribution franchise.
• She acted as chair of an economic regulation agency responsible for regulating tariffs and conditions linked to the distribution of natural gas in Québec: procurement, extension of service (pipelines), yield rates, cost of service, supply terms and conditions, investment plan, infrastructures, etc., consistent with the Québec government's energy policy.

Community and professional activities

• Member of the Barreau du Québec
• Member of the Canadian Bar Association
• Member of the American Bar Association
• Chairperson of the Régie du gaz naturel, 1991-1992
• Member of the International Water Resources Association
• Member of the Canadian Water Resources Association (vice-chairperson, Québec section), 1984-1991
• Member of the Association de l'Industrie électrique du Québec
• Member and vice-chairperson of the Association québécoise de la production d'énergie renouvelable (AQPER)
• Member of the Réseau Environnement
• Recipient of many prizes and awards, including the Award of excellence 1996 presented by the Canadian Water Resources Association and the Honour "Fellow IWRA" received in 2005 from the International Water Resources Association
• Author of several articles pertaining to energy law, water rights and regulation; public speaker, commentator, president of various seminars and programs at many international and national events concerning energy law, the setting up and financing of projects, environmental matters and natural resources

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