George Vegh is the head of McCarthy Tétrault’s Toronto energy regulation practice, where he provides advocacy and advisory services to private and public sector clients. George’s main focus is on public utility and wholesale market regulation in the energy sector.

Prior to joining McCarthy Tetrault, George was General Counsel of the Ontario Energy Board.

George is an Adjunct Professor of Energy Law and Regulatory Governance at the University of Toronto Law School, the Munk School of Global Affairs and Public Policy, University of Calgary Law School and at Osgoode Hall Law School, where he is also the Program Director for the Masters’ Program in Energy and Infrastructure Law.

GEORGE’S PREVIOUS SERVICE INCLUDES:

• Member of the OEB Chair’s Advisory Committee on Innovation;
• Chair of the IESO Market Forum;
• Chair of the Ontario Energy Association;
• Vice-Chair of the Board of the Association of Power Producers of Ontario;
• Leader on a number of industry initiatives, including Task Forces on Distribution Rate Regulation, Infrastructure Renewal, Distributed Generation, and Transmission Connection for Renewable Generation.

GEORGE’S DISTINCTIONS INCLUDE:

• Energy Regulatory Lawyer of the Year – Lexpert;
• Leading 500 Lawyers in Canada – American Lawyer;
• Frequently Recommended (Highest Ranking) – Canadian Legal Lexpert Directory;
• A leading lawyer in the area of energy regulation and energy litigation (Highest Ranking) - Chambers Global: The World’s Leading Lawyers for Business;
• One of the Best Lawyers in Canada – National Post.

SELECTED PUBLICATIONS 

• Establishing Evidence-Based Analysis of Ontario’s Energy Procurement (Ontario360), April, 2018
• Investigating Energy Market Activity in Ontario, in The Guide to Energy Market Manipulation (Global Competition Review), February, 2018.
• Energy Governance in Ontario, A Report to the Ontario Energy Association and the Association of Power Producers of Ontario, November, 2017.
• How Ontario can End the Cycle of Meddling in Electricity Markets, April, 2017 (Globe and Mail)
• Cap and Trade and Governance: Ontario energy agency could correct province's past policy mistakes, May, 2016 (Globe and Mail);
• Improving Governance in the Ontario Electricity Sector (February, 2016, CD Howe);
• Expert Testimony to Ontario Legislative Assembly Committee on Procurement and Siting, September, 2013;
• Reconnecting Supply and Demand: How Improving Electricity Pricing Can Help Integrate a Changing Supply Mix, Increase Efficiency, and Empower Customers: Report of the Chair of the Electricity Market Forum, December, 2011;
• “How Energy Institutions Set the Price for Electricity,” in Doug Reeve, Donald Dewees & Bryan Karney, Current Affairs – Perspectives on Electricity Policy for Ontario (University of Toronto Press, 2010), 142;
• The Green Energy and Economy Act: Green Energy Unbounded, University of Toronto Law Faculty Blog, February 25, 2009;
• “A Watch Dog’s Limits” Editorial, Globe & Mail, January 30, 2008;
• Advocacy Centre for Tenants – Ontario v. Ontario Energy Board: Public Utility Rate-Rate-Making: Economic Regulation or Taxation? Case Comment: (2008), 87 Can. Bar Review, 549.
• “Is there a Doctrine of Canadian Public Utility Law?” (2007), 86 Can. Bar Rev. 319;
• Electricity Competition in Ontario (1998), 16 Journal of Energy & Natural Resources Law 114
• “The Characterization of Barriers to Interprovincial Trade under the Canadian Constitution,” (1996), 34 Osgoode Hall Law Journal 355;
• Student Companion to Administrative Law (Toronto: Butterworths, 1996).
• Does Quebec have the Right to Secede at International Law? (1995), 74 Canadian Bar Review 225 (co-authored with Neil Finkelstein and Camille Joly).
• The Separation of Quebec and the Constitution of Canada (Toronto: York University Centre for Public Law and Public Policy, 1992) (co-authored with Neil Finkelstein).
• Making the Law: The Courts and the Constitution (Toronto: Copp Clark Pitman, 1991) (co-authored with John T. Saywell).