Brandon Hicks and G. Brett Ledingham to present "Powering the Prairie Province: Regulatory Pathways and Project Development for Small Nuclear Reactors in Saskatchewan" at 2026 Jasper Research Seminar

McDougall Gauley LLP's Brandon Hicks and G. Brett Ledingham will present their paper, "Powering the Prairie Province: Regulatory Pathways and Project Development for Small Nuclear Reactors in Saskatchewan," at the 2026 Jasper Research Seminar with co-author Dara Hrytzak, a Ph.D. candidate at Johnson Shoyama Graduate School of Public Policy and VP at Cameco Corporation. This event will take place June 17-20, 2026.

Hosted by the Canadian Energy Law Foundation (CELF), the Jasper Research Seminar is the premier event for Canadian energy practitioners. Papers prepared for the Seminar will be published in the Alberta Law Review, a peer-reviewed journal focused on the discourse surrounding Canadian legal issues.

Brandon, Brett, and Dara critically examine Canada's regulatory framework for small modular reactor (SMR) deployment, with a focus on Saskatchewan as western Canada's most advanced nuclear jurisdiction. Taking aim at a key 2018 industry Roadmap that declared Canada's regulatory regime "ready for SMR deployment," the authors survey the volume and significance of regulatory reforms that have followed, including impact assessment threshold changes, the Supreme Court of Canada's Reference re Impact Assessment Act decision, and gaps in Saskatchewan's emergency preparedness and nuclear fuel supply frameworks. The paper's central contribution is the distinction between a regulatory framework that is merely sufficient to permit SMR deployment and one that is genuinely optimized to support it, a distinction the authors argue is critical to the long-term success of Saskatchewan's nuclear energy ambitions.

Brandon is a corporate partner in McDougall Gauley LLP's Regina office and leads the firm's Intellectual Property and Technology practice group. His energy practice includes advising oil and gas clients on regulatory and commercial matters and acting for uranium exploration companies operating in Saskatchewan's Athabasca Basin, experience that directly informs the paper's analysis of nuclear fuel supply chains, uranium sector regulation, and the commercial and regulatory infrastructure required for SMR project development in Saskatchewan.

Brett is a partner with a specialized practice focused on oil and gas, alternative energy, and mining work, as well as estate administration work with respect to mineral rights. He works extensively with the Saskatchewan Land Registry system and the Saskatchewan Ministry of Energy and Resources oil and gas and mineral registry systems. Brett is the team lead of the Energy and Mining practice group at the firm.