july 2009 issue
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Council Briefs
10-Year Strategic Plan Targets Mobility, Geo Compliance
The PEGG compiled the following items from the most recent APEGGA Council meeting, June 18 in Calgary — the first meeting of the 2009-2010 term. The next meeting is Sept. 17 in Lethbridge.
A new 10-year APEGGA Strategic Plan is in place to help Council and staff meet the challenges of self-regulation while abiding by the Association’s mission, vision and guiding principles. Five major issues are identified and broken into 10-year, three-year and one-year goals and outcomes.
Mobility — professionals becoming licensed in other jurisdictions — tops the issues list. The plan suggests that some form of national licensure system be in place in the next decade. It also calls on APEGGA to shoot for having half the U.S. states approve licensure of P.Eng.s without assigning exams.
Number two on the list is licensure compliance of geoscientists. The plan calls for a “culture shift” to occur, “whereby geoscientists recognize the value of professional licensure, and geoscientists and engineers enjoy equally high rates of licensure,” of 85 per cent or more.
The complete APEGGA Strategic Plan — 2010-2019 appears under
Fast Find, Publications, at www.apega.ca.
Reserve Fund
Performance
‘Better Than Norm’
APEGGA’s conservative investment strategy is, slowly but surely, turning the reserve fund around, Council heard. Coun. Shawn Morrison, P.Eng., the committee’s chair, said the strategy made the downturn in the economy less damaging to the reserve investment fund than it would have been otherwise.
“We’re doing slightly better than the norm in industry,” said Mr. Morrison. “We’re not quite hitting targets for revenue, but overall the news is positive.”
Net loss on the reserve fund for the year to April 30 is about $8,000
or -0.12 per cent. The target return is 2.2 per cent to the good.
Said President Jim Beckett, P.Eng.: “It’s hard to feel like we’re good stewards when we’re losing money in the investment fund. But we have a conservative fund and we’re certainly not speculating. It’s not the best message but it could have been worse. We can look members in the eye.”
On the operations side, APEGGA is on target. Revenues were nearly $4.35 million in the first quarter, which is about $320,000 ahead of budget. Expenses were about $450,000 lower than budgeted, although most of that is due to timing rather than permanent differences.
Pension Plan
Under Close Watch
Special payments of about $240,000 a year may be necessary to rescue the APEGGA Staff Pension Plan from its economic doldrums. Council decided, however, to take no major action until an actuarial valuation is completed at the end of the year.
In budgeting preparations for 2010, APEGGA will include a place-holder figure in case money from Association coffers is needed.
Council heard that the plan’s assets dropped about 16 per cent over the past year. In order to keep its unfunded liability at $2.3 million, the plan would have to earn about 8.4 per cent in 2009.
Employees pay five per cent of their gross income into the pension fund. APEGGA pays an amount equal to 2.94 times the employee payments.
Council Approves
New Committees
Much of the business leading up to Council action happens between meetings, when its various committees do the background work and come up with recommendations for the full body to consider. One of the first orders of business of every new Council, therefore, is preparing assignments to its various committees.
Unless a committee’s terms of reference say otherwise, it is the President’s job to propose assignments, which must then be approved by Council.
Following are the approved committee assignments. When the committee requires a chair, the chairperson’s name appears first. Not all appointments are councillors.
Executive — President Jim Beckett, P.Eng., Past-President Dr. Gordon Williams, P.Geol., President-Elect Kim Farwell, P.Eng., Vice-President Dick Walters, P.Eng., Executive Director & Registrar Neil Windsor, P.Eng.
Finance — Shawn Morrison, P.Eng., all members of the Executive Committee, Kevin Cumming, P.Eng., Gary Campbell, QC (public member of Council), Len Shrimpton, P.Eng. (APEGGA Director, Internal Affairs).
Audit — John Van der Put, P.Eng., Leah Lawrence, P.Eng., Dr. Ken Porteous, P.Eng., Karen Henry, P.Eng., Al Scherbarth, CMA, Deputy Registrar Al Schuld, P.Eng.
Strategic Planning — Kim Farwell, P.Eng., Leah Lawrence, P.Eng., Anne Simpson, P.Eng., Dr. Jim Gilliland, P.Eng., Kevin Cumming, P.Eng., Colin Yeo, P.Geol., Karen Henry, P.Eng., Neil Windsor, P.Eng., Len Shrimpton, P.Eng.
Governance — Dr. Gordon Williams, P.Geol., Dr. Ron Hinds, P.Geoph., Dr. Jim Gilliland, P.Eng., Mary Ann Byrd, P.Eng., Dr. Ken Porteous, P.Eng., Arlene Strom, LL.B. (public member of Council), Neil Windsor, P.Eng., Len Shrimpton, P.Eng.
Nominating — Dr. Gordon Williams, P.Geol., Jim Beckett, P.Eng. (observer), Neil Windsor, P.Eng., and 20-plus others drawn from the membership, approved by the Annual General Meeting and listed in the May 2009 Council Briefs.
Consulting Engineers of Alberta Liaison — Dick Walters, P.Eng.
Geoscience — Colin Yeo, P.Geol., Jim Beckett, P.Eng., Dr. Gordon Williams, P.Geol., Kim Farwell, P.Eng., Dr. Ron Hinds, P.Geoph., John Hogg, P.Geol., Neil Windsor, P.Eng., Len Shrimpton, P.Eng., Tom Sneddon, P.Geol. (APEGGA Manager, Geoscience Affairs), Dr. Deborah Spratt, P.Geol. (APEGGA Board of Examiners).
Public Interest — Jim Beckett, P.Eng., Kim Farwell, P.Eng., Anne Simpson, P.Eng., Mary Ann Byrd, P.Eng., Arlene Strom, LL.B., Neil Windsor, P.Eng., Al Schuld, P.Eng.; three past presidents, Larry Staples, P.Eng., Tony Howard, P.Eng., Mike Smyth, P.Eng.; three members-at-large, Dr. Finlay Campbell, P.Geol., Kim Sturgess, P.Eng., Ron Hicks, P.Eng.
Engineers Canada — Dan Motyka, P.Eng., Dave Chalcroft, P.Eng.
Canadian Council of Professional Geoscientists — John Hogg, P.Geol.
Pension Governance — Dr. Gordon Williams, P.Geol., Kevin Cumming, P.Eng., Len Shrimpton, P.Eng.
Education Foundation
Targets Fundraising
Of $500,000 Each Year
Council confidence in the APEGGA Education Foundation’s future
continues to grow, even though the foundation is being weaned of its APEGGA dollar support. Under Council’s current policy, APEGGA funding of the arms-length foundation ends in 2014.
The foundation plans to raise $500,000 a year for the next five years, Council heard. President Jim Beckett, P.Eng., said he liked what he read. “I have a feeling of optimism that I haven’t had in the past,” he said.
That optimism is cautious, however. “There’s a core of people who can execute this, and time will tell if they’ll be successful,” said Mr. Beckett.
The foundation presented an “integrated business plan,” charting its course until 2014. The plan comes in the wake of $1 million being endowed in 2008, dropping its reserves to just $200,000. The money went to the University of Alberta and the University of Calgary to enhance their scholarship and outreach programs, and leverage the impact of the foundation’s dollars.
Geoscience Licensure
Requirements
Need to Reach Students
A standardized body of knowledge is one thing for the geoscience community in Canada. Getting that knowledge widely recognized within universities is quite another, Council heard.
The Geoscience Committee reported that universities granting geoscience degrees across the country do offer individual courses that meet APEGGA Board of Examiners criteria for licensure. Those criteria adhere to the new CCPG Geoscience Knowledge and Experience Requirements for Professional Registration in Canada.
But the universities can also offer courses for non-majors that do not meet the criteria. “Science faculties and Earth science departments at universities allow students to select science and geoscience options that, collectively as a program, may not meet the body of knowledge,” says a committee report.
University science faculties have resisted the idea of actual geoscience accreditation, like the system engineering in Canada enjoys. It is up to Canadian Council of Professional Geoscientists, the report says, to “communicate directly with students” so they get the education they need for licensure.
The item is one of many priority directives the committee had for the CCPG Strategic Plan, covering the licensure rate of geoscientists, image and branding, communicating licensure requirements to immigrants, and other matters.
Equipment Certification
Guideline Approved
A new guideline to help engineers when they certify equipment has passed its final hurdle before publication. Subject to editorial changes, Council approved the Guideline for Professional Engineers Providing Equipment Certification as Required by Alberta’s Occupational Health and Safety Code.
Members were invited to comment in April, when an announcement was published in The PEGG and a near-final draft was distributed via the e-PEGG.
The guideline is in response to engineers’ requests for assistance when they inspect and certify equipment, prepare certified specifications, or “override” a manufacturer’s specifications.
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