Mark Warner was featured on the CBC Weekend Business Panel looking back on 2023 and looking into our crystal ball: the resurrection of unions and strikes, Glencore hostile takeover of Teck Resources and the aftermath /, the Royal Bank of Canada’s acquisition of HSBC Canada, resurgent post-COVID supply chain challenges due to El Nino and Climate Change effects in the Panama Canal and war risks in the Suez Canal and in the Red Sea and the simmering border dispute between Venezuela and Guyana. (December 23, 2023) Mr. Warner is a Canadian and U.S. lawyer who has practiced in Toronto, Washington, D.C., New York and Brussels 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 in Paris, and represented the OECD at meetings of the WTO Working Groups on Trade and Competition Policies and Trade and Investment Policies.
Mark is a former Legal Director of the Ontario Ministry of Economic Development & Trade and led the Ontario’s legal team for the insolvency / restructuring of General Motors and Chrysler. As Legal Director for the Ontario Ministry of Research & Innovation, Mr. Warner 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 and advising on the introduction of the Province’s pay day lending laws, the administration of the Motor Vehicle Dealers Act and regulating the Ontario Motor Vehicle Industry Council.
Mark advises on foreign corrupt practices, foreign asset controls, anti-money laundering and export controls issues, including assisting various multinational firms in developing compliance programs in these areas. Mark provides international trade and investment law advice to natural resources clients on trade agreements, trade remedies, sanctions, export and import controls, anti-corruption, corporate social responsibility and compliance issues as a colleague at Pilot Law which provides comprehensive legal services for developing resource businesses in the mining, energy and renewables sectors.
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. In addition to being a lawyer, Mr. Warner has a Masters Degree in International Economics from the University of Toronto.