President’s Notebook

You Must be Licensed

 

The EGGP Act is clear and so is Council’s direction: engineers, geologists and geophysicists
are required to have a licence, and staff actively look for those not complying

BY GORDON WILLIAMS, P.GEOL.
APEGGA President

Compliance: acting in accordance with a wish or command; meeting specified standards.

In the case of professional com-pliance, this means being licensed in accordance with the Engineering, Geological and Geophysical Professions Act.

As mentioned in an earlier President’s Notebook, the number of engineers and geoscientists actually working in their professions is impossible to determine with any degree of accuracy. That notwithstanding, our compliance rate, the number of professionals licensed by APEGGA as a fraction of those actively practicing according to definitions in the EGGP Act, is probably 85 to 90 per cent overall for engineers.

However, information gleaned over the past few years suggests that number is considerably lower for emerging disciplines such as computer and software engineering, or biological engineering. In geoscience, compliance is probably lower still, in the range of 55 to 70 per cent.

 The EGGP Act is quite clear: all persons practicing engineering, geology or geophysics in Alberta as defined in the act, holding themselves out as being qualified to do so, or using the restricted titles in the act, must be licensed.

APEGGA has the responsibility and authority under the EGGP Act to ensure that this is accomplished. The target is 100 per cent compliance.

Increasing the compliance rate involves a combination of education and enforcement.

APEGGA members must be educated to ensure they can talk knowledgeably to colleagues and others about the value of licensure, and the legal necessity to be licensed. Members of technical and learned societies also must be convinced that APEGGA is not an unnecessary impediment, or merely a bureaucratic “policeman” who adds nothing to their day-to-day work and costs them money.

Such individuals must recognize that being licensed by APEGGA provides value and is not an option. Legally, a licence to practice in the appropriate profession is required, just as a driver’s licence is required to legally drive a car on our streets and roads.

Politicians and civil servants must be made aware of the differences between tradespeople and professionals. One of the key differences is this: professionals have the paramount obligation to protect the public health, safety and welfare.

Education must also be directed at members of the public, many of whom have subscribed to an erroneous message that the country is full of “well-qualified foreign-trained professionals who cannot get work and are driving taxis.” While the public seems to have a reasonably accurate understanding of what engineering is and what engineers do, my impression is that, even in Alberta’s oil and gas heartland, they are woefully ignorant about what geoscience is and what geoscientists do, other than dig for dinosaurs.

If education is the carrot, enforcement is the stick. Those who use the restricted titles or practice without being licensed can expect to be given an opportunity to become licensed. The APEGGA Board of Examiners has a policy under which subject-matter examinations designed to compensate for shortcomings in an applicant’s academic career can be waived on the basis of professional experience gained after graduation.

Just because someone flunked out of second-year physics, maths, mineralogy or strength of materials 15 years ago does not necessarily mean that she or he will have to write an exam in the dreaded subject to become licensed today.

Those who do not avail themselves of opportunities to do the right thing and become licensed can expect to hear from the Compliance Department, the beginning of a process that could end up in the courts. If you know of someone in this situation, do them a favour and advise them to get in touch with the APEGGA office.

Council has taken the position that APEGGA will not look the other way when it comes to compliance.

Public Interest Issues
From time to time, members have suggested that APEGGA endorse this, that or another position on issues upon which they have strong feelings. Without belittling members’ points of view on controversial, often emotionally charged issues, APEGGA has steadfastly refrained from advocating any particular perspective.

For starters, with more than 53,000 members no one point of view on an issue would make everyone happy. The result is that it is neither possible nor appropriate to put forward a unique APEGGA position.

To provide leadership in this area, however, Council recently established a Public Interest Issues Committee to advise it and the President on “hot-button” issues that continue to arise. The committee consists of the President as chair, two members of Council, two past presidents of APEGGA, one public member of Council, and three members at large.

The major objectives of the committee are to

• provide leadership on professional and technical issues affecting society

• advise the President and Council on matters related to public issues that impact on the safety and well-being of the public or the environment, or that impact on the Association.

Climate change, fresh-water availability, resource exploitation (oilsands, coal and coalbed methane, forestry), nuclear energy, and aging public infrastructure were all on the agenda for the initial meeting of the committee in September. I am looking forward to hearing more from this committee.

Please send me your comments and suggestions by e-mail to president@apega.ca.