Increasingly, businesses in the public and private sectors are choosing to work together to promote common interests. Our Public Sector team can help you identify opportunities and strategies, clarify compliance requirements, and manage risk as you move your business forward.

As public demands, political dynamics, and business and investment expectations evolve, establishing and navigating the public sector landscape requires flexibility, creativity and considerable insight into the public and private sectors.

McCarthy Tétrault’s clients choose us for our dedicated client service, award-winning innovations, and cross-Canada expertise. Public and private sector collaboration isn’t confined to a product, service or industry. As such, our multidisciplinary Public Sector team draws its members from many of our practice areas, including corporate/commercial, litigation, government relations, regulatory, international trade, procurement, technology, privacy, financial services, and cybersecurity, providing our clients with panoptic, strategic solutions.

Flexible counsel capable of meeting your needs.

We have decades of experience advising and representing both government actors and private enterprises that do business with governments and we understand the importance of moving quickly but judiciously in the ever-shifting landscape. Our practical approach is driven by our focus on our clients’ goals, key risks and priorities over the long-term.

Whether you are trying to break into the market, make sense of government regulations, pursue a transformational project or defend your interests, our team will work with you every step of the way to help you achieve your objectives.

Many of our legal professionals hail from the public and private sectors and offer a keen perspective that stretches beyond the law. We have established open, respectful relationships with provincial and Canadian government departments and regulatory agencies. With our clients’ interests in mind, we work closely with the RCMP, Global Affairs Canada (and its Economic Law Section, Sanctions Policy and Operations Coordination Division, and Export Controls Division), Competition Bureau, Canada Border Services Agency, Health Canada, FINTRAC, OSFI, the OSC, and the Public Prosecution Service of Canada. When necessary, we work with counsel in other countries to ensure careful coordination when other authorities, such as agencies of foreign governments, are involved.

Areas of Engagement

Selected Experience

• Advising the Government of Ontario in connection with the legalization and distribution of recreational cannabis and the formation of the Ontario Cannabis Store
• Advising on the 2020 National Hockey League Playoffs “Bubble” in Toronto and advising professional sports teams on return-to-play in accordance with municipal, provincial, and federal levels of COVID-19 policies and regulations
• Advising the Ontario Lottery and Gaming Corporation on all aspects of its multi-year project to modernize its casino gaming business, including negotiating long-term operating agreements for all existing and planned casinos
• Representing the Ontario Lottery and Gaming Corporation in numerous legal claims arising from the transformation of its business model
• Advising a provincial government in connection with major policy changes and commercial arrangements to optimize the use of data in the delivery of word-class government services, including potential private sector partnerships
• Representing Facebook in the Federal Privacy Commissioner’s Federal Court Application regarding allegations pertaining to Cambridge Analytica
• Advising major Canadian and international enterprises on legal and commercial strategies relating to the potential decriminalization of sports betting in Canada
• Advising several Ontario universities on COVID-19 response plans and the set-up of vaccination clinics in partnership with private sector health groups
• Advising a global charitable organization on complex arrangements to monetize and develop a vast real estate portfolio to support beneficial social purposes
• Representing senior-level public office holders and corporations involved in high-stakes ethics investigations, lobbying investigations, and Parliamentary committee hearings
• Representing various clients in litigation and class actions arising from regulatory investigations, including Privacy Commissioner and Competition Bureau investigations.