May 2006

President's Newsletter

Douglas N. Goodridge, P. Eng.

Well, much has happened in this province since the last issue of Dialogue, most notably: 

• The Hebron talks collapsed and Chevron announced plans to suspend Hebron activities 
• The NL Government announced that the province, in partnership with Newfoundland and Labrador Hydro, will lead the development of the Lower Churchill

In the last half of May, PEGNL issued press releases on both of these issues. The press releases focused on aspects of these issues which relate to their impact on the sustainability and growth of our professions. Copies of both press releases can be found on the PEGNL website.

In the case of Hebron, PEGNL also sent letters to Premier Williams and Alex Archila, President of Chevron Canada. The letters encouraged both parties to resume negotiations. Our response on this issue generated considerable local media attention. In the various media interviews, Steve McLean, our Executive Director, reinforced our message.

In speaking on public issues, PEGNL endeavours to achieve an appropriate balance so that we are not perceived to be a member advocacy organization; recognizing that our key role is to regulate and license the practice of the professions in the public interest, while ensuring sustainability and growth within the professions.

I welcome feedback from members on PEGNL's response to these important issues for our professions.

As President, I have the privilege to represent PEGNL at meetings of the CCPE, CCPG and at the AGMs of some sister associations in Canada. While PEGNL appoints Directors to the Boards of CCPE & CCPG, their key fiduciary responsibility is to act in the best interests of the collective national organization not to represent the sole interest of PEGNL. Our CCPE Director is Tony Dawe, P.Eng. Tony is now running for President of CCPE at their upcoming AGM in Whitehorse June 1-3. We wish Tony every success in this pursuit. Our CCPG Director is Jim Wright, P.Geo. who was elected Treasurer of that organization during the past year.

A considerable area of focus for both CCPE and CCPG is the issue of mobility of our professions, both within Canada and internationally. By early June, we will be one step closer to full mobility for all Engineers across Canada. In Whitehorse, I will be signing, on behalf of PEGNL, an Agreement with 3 other provincial associations (NS, SK, NB) which provides for mobility of licensure across all jurisdictions which are signatories to the Agreement. For example, if you are a P.Eng. registered in good standing in APEGNB you will be automatically eligible to be registered in PEGNL (and vice versa) without any additional requirements.  Other provinces are still considering this issue or have declined to participate for now, but transfer of registration to and from these jurisdictions will still be very straightforward for the vast majority of members. Under a previously existing mobility agreement, these organizations accept the general principles of mobility but wish to maintain the right to invoke a "notwithstanding" clause that allows them to set further conditions or disallow a transfer altogether. This clause is only invoked in exceptional circumstances. In the case of PEGNL, we have never invoked this clause.

For Geoscientists, CCPG is currently pursuing a full mobility agreement among provincial and territorial Associations. In the interim, at the CCPG AGM in Saskatoon, May 26-28, 2006, we plan to extend the existing agreement for two additional years to May 27, 2008. The existing agreement offers mobility for Geoscientists, but Associations will maintain the right to invoke a "notwithstanding" clause, similar to that which exists for Engineers wishing to transfer registration within Canada prior to June 2006.

On the international front, CCPE/CCPG are co-ordinating efforts to enable international mobility. European, U.S. and Hong Kong credential transfers are also generally very straightforward under various international mobility agreements. Registration for individuals educated in less well known universities can take longer and be a more onerous process but there is a system in place to assess such applicants.

In my last Newsletter, I mentioned Council's three focus areas for the current Council year: 

1. Professional Development (PD) Program review 
2. Enhanced engagement between PEGNL and its members 
3. External linkages

I want to take this opportunity to provide a brief update on each of these items.

With respect to item 1, in response to member feedback, Council has approved in principal an effort to redesign the Professional Development Program to have a generally more quantitative focus (similar to the original 1999 program). Council further directed that the new program is to be ready for implementation in January 2007 and shall include planning and non-technical components, similar to those contained in the existing program. The program redesign is now underway. This activity is being lead by Steve McLean, our Executive Director, with support from staff and a Committee of Council. More to follow on this in the fall.

With respect to item 2, Membership Engagement, I am also still working with the Central (including Bonavista-Burin) and Western Chapters to arrange a convenient time to visit, coincident with a Chapter activity being planned in these regions. I have confirmed plans to visit the Labrador Chapter and attend the Lobster Boil in Labrador City on June 10. I am looking forward to meeting members from this region at that time.

Council also has decided to hold PEGNL's next AGM on March 17, 2007. We are still formulating plans but, building upon the tremendous positive response we had to the AGM held in the October 2005, we are pursuing the Humber Valley resort as the venue for the next AGM.

With respect to item 3, external stakeholder engagement, our highest profile activity was issuing the two press releases I previously discussed.

In addition, Council held a joint meeting with the Engineers without Borders (EWB) organization in March. This campus-led organization is the fastest growing student organization at MUN [see story elsewhere in Dialogue]. The organization sends young Canadian engineers to work on technology related projects in lesser-developed countries as well as builds local awareness on world poverty issues. PEGNL made a modest financial contribution to this organization this year and I hope PEGNL will be able to continue to support EWB in the future.

An undergraduate student, Ian Froude, is currently working in Ghana on 4 month assignment. The Past President of this organization, Ed Martin (Engineering Class of 2006), is on his way to Zambia for a 1-2 year posting. I should also mention that Ed was recently awarded the PEGNL 50th Anniversary Silver Medal for a combination of high academic standing, outstanding leadership qualities and involvement in extracurricular activities. It is indeed very encouraging to see such strong leadership from our student and young graduate engineers and geoscientists.

We had hoped to meet the Minister of Natural Resource on May 19 to discuss issues of mutual interest but were very disappointed that the Minister had to cancel at the last minute. We have written the Minister to express our disappointment that our repeated efforts to meet have been unsuccessful.

As always, I welcome your feedback or suggestions on any of the topics covered in this article president@pegnl.ca

© Professional Engineers and Geoscientists of Newfoundland and Labrador