Panel Members
The Dispute Resolution Panel mediates and arbitrates certain disputes arising under the market rules. The Board of Directors has appointed The Honourable Dennis O’Connor, Q.C. as Secretary of the IESO Dispute Resolution Panel, commencing April 1, 2015.
Members of the Dispute Resolution Panel
- Mary Comeau
- Bryan C. Duguid, K.C.
- Ellen Fry
- John J. Marshall K.C.
- The Hon. Frank Newbould, K.C.
- The Hon. Dennis O’Connor, K.C.
Mary Comeau FCIArb is a senior commercial litigator and arbitrator with over 30 years’ experience in complex commercial dispute resolution. A graduate of the University of Calgary Faculty of Law (Gold Medalist 1989) she started her career at Macleod Dixon, which merged with Norton Rose in 2011, now Norton Rose Fulbright, where she retired as Senior Partner and Litigation Practice Group Chair December 31, 2017.
A major focus of her practice from the early 1990’s was the arbitration of electricity market disputes, including matters related to the Alberta Power Purchase Arrangements, the Alberta Independent Electricity System Operator and the Market Surveillance Administrator, as well as Independent Power Producer disputes and private contract disputes in the sector in Canada and the United States. She also represented various governments and numerous oil and gas companies in matters related to aboriginal consultation and project development.
On January 1, 2018 she joined Western Arbitration Chambers as an independent neutral. In May, 2022 she moved to Vancouver and joined Vancouver Arbitration Chambers as an independent neutral. She has enjoyed the transition from advocate to adjudicator and over the past 7 years has sat as sole arbitrator and as a tribunal member, including as Chair, on numerous major commercial matters both domestic and international.
Bryan C. Duguid K.C., FCIArb is a partner with Jensen Shawa Solomon Duguid Hawkes LLP in Calgary, Alberta. His practice is focused on the resolution of commercial disputes primarily through arbitration (as arbitrator or counsel), with particular emphasis on electricity market disputes. Bryan has been involved in some of the most high-profile, complex, and significant arbitral, regulatory, and litigation disputes in the Alberta power industry, often including the Alberta Independent Electricity System Operator, the Market Surveillance Administrator, or both, along with commercial market participants or the Independent Power Producers Society of Alberta.
Besides having been appointed as Queen’s Counsel (now King’s Counsel), as a Fellow of the UK-based Chartered Institute of Arbitrators, to the NAFTA 2022 Committee by the federal Minister of International Trade, as Chair of Sub-Group and member of Steering Committee of the Uniform Law Conference of Canada - Domestic Arbitration Legislation Group, and to various arbitrator rosters, Bryan is a member of the Western Canada Commercial Arbitration Society. He is recognized for arbitration and commercial disputes as a star or leading lawyer by agencies including Chambers Canada, Who’s Who Legal, The Best Lawyers in Canada, Benchmark, and Lexpert.
Ellen Fry is a dispute resolution specialist with over 20 years of experience in adjudication, arbitration, mediation and complaint investigation. Her experience includes major issues in the energy sector, commercial and trade law and business regulation. She is currently a member of ADR Chambers, a major dispute resolution firm.
Ellen is a former Member of the Ontario Energy Board, Member of the Canadian International Trade Tribunal and Ombudsman of the National Capital Commission. In these positions she adjudicated numerous major commercial and regulatory issues and investigated complaints against a federal government agency. She has also investigated and recommended resolution of numerous complaints against major Canadian banks and municipal officials.
Ellen has been a member of the Ontario Bar since 1979 and has an MBA from Queen's University. Before specializing in dispute resolution she was the director of the legal departments of several economic and regulatory federal government departments.
Jack practised with Macleod Dixon as a commercial litigator, arbitrator and mediator for 45 years and served as head of the litigation department and Chair of the firm. Upon the firm merging with Norton Rose Fulbright, Jack continued as an independent arbitrator and mediator, co-founding what is now Western Arbitration Chambers. The focus of his practice has been disputes in the energy and resource industries and large construction disputes. He has extensive experience in arbitrating and mediating disputes in the electric industry including:
- representation of TransAlta Utilities in the deregulation process and in development of PPAs and disputes arising thereunder;
- the sale of a distribution system in the NWT;
- pricing disputes relating to coal royalties, forward sales of electricity, the sale of uranium to a German utility, the sale of CO2 for oil enhanced recovery project in Saskatchewan and the sale of steam from a co-gen plant to a petrochemical plant in Ontario;
- BC Hydro's Site C dam dispute with major equipment supplier;
- counsel in rate hearings for TransAlta Utilities and FAM audit for Nova Scotia Power;
- dispute related to cost of service for distribution;
- dispute between EPMC contractor and supplier relating to a power project in North Africa;
- appointment by the Ontario Independent Electricity System Operator to arbitrate two disputes.
Hon. Frank J.C. Newbould. K.C.
Mr. Newbould was appointed to the Ontario Superior Court of Justice in 2006. Until his retirement on June 1, 2017, he was from 2013 the head of the Commercial List in Toronto, the country’s leading commercial court tasked with hearing a wide variety of complex cases. Prior to his appointment to the bench, Mr. Newbould was a partner at Borden Ladner Gervais in Toronto with a broad litigation and arbitration practice. Mr. Newbould is counsel to the firm of Thornton Grout Finnigan LLP in Toronto, a panel member of Arbitration Place in Toronto, an Associate Member of South Square Chambers in the UK, a member of the London Court of International Arbitration User’s Council, a panel member of the International Centre for Dispute Resolution (ICDR) of the American Arbitration Association, a panel member of the Singapore International Arbitration Centre, a panel member of the BVI Arbitration Centre, a member of the ICC Canada Arbitration Committee, a panel member of P.R.I.M.E. Finance, a member of INSOL International (International Association of Restructuring, Insolvency & Bankruptcy Professionals), a member of the International Insolvency Institute, and a former fellow of the American College of Trial Lawyers. He is a director of Firm Capital Mortgage Investment Corporation, a TSX listed company.
Since leaving the bench, Mr. Newbould has participated in over 75 arbitrations as a neutral arbitrator and over 100 mediations as a neutral mediator. This experience includes several energy related disputes relating to energy contracts and infrastructure, including FIT contracts, solar panels, wind turbines, and an offshore wind farm.
The Honourable Dennis O’Connor, K.C. - Secretary
The Honourable Dennis O'Connor, K.C., formerly the Associate Chief Justice of Ontario, is counsel in the Toronto office of a national law firm. He was appointed to the Court of Appeal for Ontario in 1998 and served as Associate Chief from 2001 until he retired at the end of 2012. He was appointed Magistrate in the Yukon Territory in 1973, where he served until 1976. He has also sat as a Deputy Magistrate of the Northwest Territories and a Provincial Court judge in the northern regions of British Columbia.
While on the bench Mr. O'Connor wrote numerous judgments dealing with a wide range of issues including commercial, insurance and securities law. In addition, he conducted two successful public inquiries: The Walkerton Inquiry (2000-02) and the Maher Arar Inquiry (2004-06). He also served as Chair of the Judicial Independence Committee and the Priorities and Planning Committee of the Canadian Judicial Council (2007-10).
Before being appointed to the Court of Appeal, Mr. O'Connor was a senior counsel at a national law firm for 18 years. His practice focused on commercial and public law litigation. He acted on many major cases in Ontario and elsewhere in Canada during that period. He appeared as lead counsel on many major cases in Ontario and elsewhere in Canada during that time. From 1980 to 1984 he acted as Chief Negotiator for the Government of Canada for Yukon Indian Land Claim. He served as an elected bencher of the Law Society of Upper Canada from 1987 to 1995. He also taught law as an associate professor at the University of Western Ontario (1976-80), and as a part-time faculty member of Osgoode Hall Law School (1982-86).
Mr. O'Connor was elected a fellow of the American College of Trial Lawyers in 1991. He has been awarded several honorary degrees including: Doctors of Law (Hon.) from the University of New Brunswick (2013), The Law Society of Upper Canada (2013), the University of Guelph (2011), Assumption University (2008), York University (2007) and the University of Western Ontario (2003). Mr. O'Connor has also received a number of awards, including the Advocates Society Medal, the Toronto Lawyers Award of Distinction, The Ontario Bar Association Award for Distinguished Service, the Society of Ontario Adjudicators and Regulators Medal, The Canadian Water Resources Association Distinguished Achievement Award and the American Waterworks Association Award of Merit.