Edward (Ted) G. Betts

About Edward (Ted) G. Betts

Ted Betts is a partner in Gowling WLG's Toronto office whose work centres on big construction, infrastructure and development projects: power generation, transportation, housing, urban and city-building work, and public-private partnerships. Betts heads the firm's Infrastructure and Construction Sector Group, helps lead its Nuclear Sector Group, and is certified by the Law Society of Ontario as a Specialist in Construction Law.

Clients on the public side include provincial procurement agencies and ministries, municipalities of every size and other broader public sector bodies, and Betts acts for them regularly on construction matters. The day to day covers tendering, negotiating and drafting contracts, structuring deals and financing, with delivery models ranging from construction management and design-build to EPC and EPCM and, more lately, progressive design-build and integrated project delivery. Recent matters include acting for Mortenson Canada on the design, construction and development of the Gosfield wind farm in Essex County, and for Carillion on three new mental health facilities for the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health.

Betts was called to the Ontario bar in 1997, two years after finishing an LLB at the University of Windsor, and has since added mining law and nuclear law training. Chambers Canada ranks Betts in both Construction and Energy: Nuclear, noting particular experience with the development and construction of nuclear projects, and Betts is a Fellow of both the Canadian College of Construction Lawyers and the Construction Lawyers Society of America.

Changes to Ontario's construction legislation come up again and again in Betts's work: a 2018 panel on the new Construction Act, materials prepared for a 2019 presentation to consulting engineers, and a February 2026 update on Construction Act amendments at the OBA's Ontario Legal Conference. Away from client work, Betts is a director and the board secretary of the Organization of Canadian Nuclear Industries, once served as president and board chair of Family Service Toronto, and has coached hockey at the community level. Betts also received a Province of Ontario Volunteer Service Award for volunteer service from 2013 to 2018.