Experienced Leadership

Hon. Sonya Savage, KC is a Senior Advisor on Global Energy Security and National Defense at the Tulane Energy Law & Policy Center and serves on the Center’s Global Research Council.  She is Senior Counsel in the Calgary office of Borden Ladner Gervais (BLG), where her extensive public, corporate and private practice experience provides a unique and valuable perspective to the firm’s clients.  Her work focuses on advising energy and infrastructure companies, investors, developers and governments on regulatory, policy and investment risk.

Prior to returning to the legal practice in 2023, Ms. Savage served as Minister of Energy, Minister of the Environment and Protected Areas and Minister of Justice in the government of Alberta. As Minister of Environment, she developed Alberta’s 2023 climate strategy and modernized Alberta’s industrial carbon pricing and emissions trading system (TIER). As Minister of Energy, she oversaw the province’s oil and gas and minerals resources and led the development of legal, policy and fiscal frameworks for emerging growth areas including critical minerals, CCUS, hydrogen, geothermal, small modular reactors (SMRs) and electricity generation, storage, transmission and distribution. Previously she worked in the corporate sector as a senior executive for the Canadian Energy Pipeline Association and Enbridge.

In addition to her legal work at Borden Ladner Gervais, she serves on the Board of Directors for Enmax,  E3 Lithium Inc. and Critical Minerals Americas Inc.  She is a frequent keynote speaker and panelist at domestic and international conferences, speaking on political and regulatory developments and risks, critical minerals, energy and energy regulation, energy transition, and climate change and the environment. She holds a Bachelor of Laws Degree and a Master of Laws (LLM) in Energy and Environment from the University of Calgary, publishing her Masters’ thesis in 2015 on the evolving role of Canada’s energy regulator, the National Energy Board. She was appointed to the King’s Counsel (KC) in 2022.