Professional Profile

Bob Onyschuk is the President and CEO of Onyschuk Strategic Advisory Services and Quadrant Developments Ltd. He is a recently retired (January 2011) partner at Gowlings, having practiced in the area of infrastructure, municipal, environmental, development and international trade law. He was recognized by Best Lawyers in Canada and by the Expert Guide to the World’s Leading Real Estate Lawyers as one of the leading real estate development lawyers in Canada.

Bob has acted for a number of municipalities in the Greater Toronto Area as well as a number of major shopping centre and land development companies across Ontario, and is credited with developing such projects as Oakville Place, Limeridge Mall, the Rideau Centre, the Elgin Wintergarden (for the Province of Ontario), and most recently “Aura”, the 78 storey residential mixed use complex in Toronto, being built by Canderel Stoneridge.

Over his 40 plus years in business and land development, Bob has had a strong policy bent, and has acted for and advised the provincial and local governments on urban issues facing Canada’s major municipalities, as well as contributing through policy think tanks, such as the Canadian Urban Institute (of which he is Past Chair, 2005 – 10), the International Council of Shopping Centers, and the Toronto Board of Trade.

He has been a member of two provincial commissions in the 70’s: as counsel to the Select Committee of the Ontario Legislature on Taxation, and as commissioner on the Reville Commission, which dealt with schoolteacher/school board relations in Ontario.

Bob has had an extensive practice in the strategic growth of cities, (including the use of infrastructure, revenue and economic development tools), both on his own account and thru the Canadian Urban Institute, where he authored a 100 page research treatise on “Smart Growth in America”, published by the Canadian Urban Institute in 2001.

In 2003 and then again in 2005 he was retained by the Province of Ontario to advise on urban economic development tools for the Province to stimulate urban economic redevelopment and infrastructure financing for Ontario municipalities. In 2005 – 2006, he was retained as counsel to the Province in the development of the Growth Plan for the Greater Golden Horseshoe, which plan subsequently won a number of international awards.

He is a Distinguished Associate with and a past chairman of the Canadian Urban Institute. He was a founding director of the Metro Toronto Convention Centre (1981-1988), and is a past director (Canadian Division) of the International Council of Shopping Centers, having served on the Canadian Division and as divisional chair for Government Relations for two terms (1973-1984, and 1993-2005). He serves on a number of private and public sector boards, including the Parsons Brinckerhoff Canadian Advisory Board, MacKenzie Keck Canada, the Australia-Canada Economic Leadership Forum Inc., the Canada-Ukraine Chamber of Commerce, and the Toronto Board of Trade’s Economic Development Committee, having also served as Chairman of the Board’s Waterfront Task Force. He is also a member of the Urban Land Institute.

International Trade

Since 1989 Bob has been involved in the emergence of the new states and new markets in Eastern Europe, particularly in the former Soviet Union. In October 1989, Bob led a 70-man delegation to Ukraine on a two-week trade mission, which included the Federal, Ontario and Alberta governments and covered 11 sectors of that country's economy. One month later, he attended the Inaugural Meeting of the Canada-USSR Business Council in Moscow as part of Prime Minister Mulroney's delegation, and he served as vice chairman of the Legislative Committee and a member of the Government Relations Committee of the Canada-USSR Business Council for two years.

Bob has represented the Government of Ukraine in Canada on a number of trade and government matters. He acted for the Government of Ukraine in negotiating the printing of Ukraine's currency in Canada by the Canadian Bank Note Company and the subsequent establishment of printing operations in Kyiv, Ukraine. He and the Firm acted as counsel to the National Bank of Ukraine as well as the Ukrainian Chamber of Commerce and Industry in Kyiv, which Chamber represents 1,200 of the major state industries in Ukraine. He was responsible for establishing the Smith Lyons' office in Kyiv. He and the Firm acted for the first two major privatizations in Ukraine in early 1993 involving the investment by a major British tobacco company in the leading cigarette company in Ukraine, and the acquisition by Fischer Skis of Austria of Ukraine’s leading ski manufacturer.

Bob is a founding director and the past president of the Canada Ukraine Chamber of Commerce, a Canadian organization whose membership includes most of the major Canadian companies doing business in Ukraine.

Bob is also the past chairman of the Canadian Chapter of the Canada Australia Chamber of Commerce, and current CEO of the Australia Canada Economic Leadership Forum, a government to government and B2B think tank that meets bi-annually. He has led two trade missions to Australia in 2005 and 2007, which resulted in a substantial increase in two-way trade and investment business transactions, including the ING Australia purchase of Summit REIT for $4.2B.

RECOGNITION

Recognized by the Expert Guide to the World's Leading Real Estate Lawyers
Queen's Counsel, 1979
Recognized by the independent U.K. Expert Guide to the World’s Leading Real Estate Lawyers
Listed in The Best Lawyers in America
Recipient of the ICSC Trustees Distinguished Service Award
Recipient of the Presidential Order of Merit of Ukraine

MEMBERSHIPS

Canadian Bar Association, Municipal and Environmental Sub-Sections
Law Society of Upper Canada
International Council of Shopping Centres
Urban Land Institute
Canadian Urban Institute
Canadian Australian Chamber of Commerce
Canada-Ukraine Chamber of Commerce
Toronto Region Board of Trade

RELATED EXPERTISE

Energy
Environmental
Government Affairs
Infrastructure
International Trade
Real Estate & Urban Developmen