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Home > 50^th Anniversary > Staff Stories > Paul Bourgeois

Paul Bourgeois

Paul Bourgeois retired from the Board in 2007 after 33 years of service. In his last position as hearing manager, he was responsible for coordinating the hearing process from beginning to end. In 2008, Paul returned to the NEB to develop training courses and coach new staff members involved with processing applications. As one who has worked in both managerial and technical positions, Paul has drawn a great deal of satisfaction from working with his colleagues and travelling across the country on Board business.

What is your most memorable work experience at the NEB?

There are several. During the mid 80s I conducted tours of two northern communities - Inuvik and Yellowknife - with former Chair Roland Priddle. I arranged meetings with public officials, laying the groundwork for forthcoming meetings in the North.

Several years later, in the early 2000s, I arranged and conducted more extensive northern tours of both the Yukon and the Northwest Territories for several Board members: Ken Vollman, Judith Snyder, John Bulger and Secretary Michel Mantha. That tour lasted about two weeks. We flew the Foothills pipeline route in the Yukon and visited a number of communities, including Fort Liaird, Norman Wells, Inuvik and Yellowknife. We met most of the Aboriginal leaders from First Nations groups who lived along the Mackenzie Valley pipeline route. It was really interesting hearing their views of the potential development.

One of the most interesting hearings that I coordinated was the last one I did before I retired. That was the Emera Brunswick Pipeline application. It involved constructing a pipeline to move natural gas from the Canaport LNG terminal in Saint John to the U.S. border near St. Stephen, New Brunswick. This was the first time that the NEB panel conducted a hearing as a substitute panel under the Canadian Environmental Assessment Act.

It was a very interesting project from beginning to end. From my point of view, it was the first one that I had been involved in that generated a lot of public interest. The people in New Brunswick felt very uncertain about having a pipeline come through their communities. We set up a lot of public engagement opportunities early in the process to educate people and establish a process that would meet their needs.

In the end, it worked out quite well. The people were pleased with the process that had been set up for them. The pipeline has since been built, though it's not yet in operation. The LNG terminal is expected to go online later this year.

What is your fondest memory of the NEB?

Generally, it's been the experience of travelling from one end of the country to the other. Before I moved to Calgary in 1991, I made frequent trips from Ottawa to Calgary and had undertaken the northern tours. Over my career at the NEB, I've had the opportunity to work in every province and territory in Canada, except Newfoundland and Labrador. The travel made it very interesting - I got to see a lot of the country and meet a lot of people.

Of the projects you have worked on, what had the most impact on Canadians?

During the first 20 years of my career, I worked in the natural gas supply group. Over the years, we carried out a lot of supply and demand analyses for both Canada and North America. We also developed and modified the Board's natural gas export procedures which were designed to ensure continuity of supply for Canadians and allow the energy industry to develop their natural gas supply for domestic and export markets.

The last procedure that we developed for determining natural gas surplus became known as the market-based procedure. It was devised in response to the way the market was changing and the way the energy business was carrying out its work. This procedure has stood the test of time. It was most recently applied in 2008 for the Repsol LNG import and gas export hearing.

Who among your colleagues at the NEB has most influenced you?

It's very hard to point out any particular individual over the 33 years I worked at the NEB. There have been so many good people - both colleagues and mentors alike that have influenced my work.

In your time at the NEB, has anything significantly affected your career?

The reorganization of the Board in 1998 probably had the most impact on my career. When the Board reorganized into business units, I was in management. I took the opportunity to return to working on hearings. This decision changed things for me. It put me back into work I really enjoyed doing, such undertaking technical analysis for hearings and managing hearing processes. It was a good way to book-end my career.

Is there anything you would like to say to today's NEB staff?

Enjoy your time at the NEB. The people you work with are the greatest. That's part of the reason that I'm back here, helping to train a lot of the new staff members.

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Date Modified:

2011-10-26