The Public Interest Advocacy Centre (PIAC) is very pleased to announce that Michael Janigan, former Executive Director and General Counsel of PIAC and most recently, Special Counsel, Regulatory and Consumer Affairs for PIAC, has been named as a full-time member of the Ontario Energy Board, effective April 26, 2017, for a fixed term of two years.
PIAC is grateful for the nearly 30 years that Mr. Janigan served this organization in leadership roles. We have no doubt that he will diligently serve the residents of Ontario in this new appointment from a strong public interest viewpoint. We wish him all the best and thank him for his unstinting dedication to PIAC.
Short Biography of Michael Janigan
Michael Janigan has been appointed as a full-time member of the Ontario Energy Board, for a fixed two year term, effective April 26, 2017.
Mr. Janigan was until recently the Special Counsel, Regulatory and Consumer Affairs of the Public Interest Advocacy Centre (PIAC) located in Ottawa, Canada. The Centre provides legal services and research on behalf of Canadian consumers and the organizations that represent them. The work of the Centre primarily involves issues concerned with the delivery of telecommunications, energy, broadcasting, banking, transportation and other important public services. The Centre has been in existence since 1976, and has a small staff of lawyers, researchers and administrative personnel located in Ottawa and Toronto.
Mr. Janigan was the Executive Director of PIAC from 1992 until September of 2012, when he assumed a role concentrating on energy regulation and general consumer protection. Prior to his engagement by the Centre, Mr. Janigan was a city and regional councillor representing a downtown ward in the City of Ottawa. He was elected to that position in the community where he carried on a busy litigation practice. Mr. Janigan was born in Ottawa, and attended the University of Western Ontario, in London, Ontario where he obtained both his undergraduate degree in science and his LLB degree. He has also completed an LLM in Competition Law at the University of London. He has been called to the Bar of the Law Society of Upper Canada and is also a member of the State Bar of California. Mr. Janigan was formerly “of counsel” to the Washington D.C. law firm, Scott Hempling and Associates, which provided legal advice to regulatory commissions across the United States. Mr. Janigan, also served as Board member of the Travel Industry Council of Ontario (TICO), a provincial regulatory agency, as an Ontario-government appointee for over 10 years. He was the first non-industry chair of TICO for five years.
Mr. Janigan has taught courses and seminars in consumer protection law and regulation at Carleton University and in the LLM program of Osgoode Hall. He is the author of publications in the telecommunications, energy and other consumer utility field. He has been a featured speaker at Canadian and international conferences on public utilities and a frequent guest on radio and television programs covering those issues.