Report of Chair and Executive Director

Another PEGNL year has begun, and we start the year off right by welcoming Darryl Benson, P. Eng. as our first Chair of the Board of Directors. PEGNL staff look forward to working with him and the Board of Directors in the coming year.

The Engineers and Geoscientists Act 2008 was given royal assent on December 18, 2008 and came into force on July 1, 2009. Under the new Act, the make-up of the Board of Directors is different from Council. There are twelve Directors - nine, including the Chair, elected from the engineering and geoscience professions, and three appointed by the Minister.

The new Act provides for transition from the previous Act and, as a result, current members of Council, whose terms of office would have carried into 2010 and 2011, are permitted to move to the new Board of Directors. By coincidence, there are nine members of Council who are able to continue on to the Board. Thus, there was no requirement for an election for the 2009-2010 year.

The three public representatives to be appointed to the Board by the Minister have yet to be named. Once the new Board meets, PEGNL Members will be informed about the names of the public members, as well as appointments to the new Committees of the Board. It is planned that the Board will meet on September 11, 2009.

Tony Dawe, P.Eng., Past President of PEGNL, concluded his term as the Newfoundland and Labrador representative on the Board of Directors of Engineers Canada in May 2009. Tony served on the Board since June 2003, including one year as the President in 2007-2008. He is only the third member of PEGNL, in our 56 year history, to have served as Engineers Canada President. He has represented the engineering profession well; is highly respected by his colleagues across Canada; and has served Newfoundland and Labrador proudly. On behalf of Council and all PEGNL members, we express a sincere thank you to Tony for a job well done.

At the April Council meeting, Dick Myers, P.Eng., PEGNL's immediate Past President, was chosen to replace Tony. Dick assumed his two-year term as the Newfoundland and Labrador Director on the Engineers Canada Board of Directors in late May 2009.

We thank Dick for accepting this position and offer our full support to him in completing his responsibilities.

Dr. James Wright, P.Geo. concluded his term as the Newfoundland and Labrador Director on the Board of the Canadian Council of Professional Geoscientists (CCPG) in 2009. Jim has been Director since 2003 and during that time has served as the Board's Secretary/Treasurer.

In addition to his role on the Board, Jim has also served as PEGNL's representative on the Canadian Geoscience Standards Board (CGSB), a Committee of CCPG which has written the Geoscience Knowledge and Experience Requirements for Profession Registration in Canada. These standards are proposed for adoption by all ten Canadian geoscience licensing bodies for use in the evaluation of an applicant's eligibility for admission to the geoscience profession. The development of standards was a long and challenging exercise which took several years to complete.

Jim has served the geoscience profession and PEGNL well over six years and we thank him for his dedication and hard work.

Ian Atkinson, P.Geo. was selected by Council to be the new CCPG Director for Newfoundland and Labrador for a two year term. Council expressed its appreciation to Ian for accepting this position and offered our full support to him in completing his responsibilities.

The 2009 PEGNL Annual General Meeting and Conference was held in St. John's on June 12, 2008. All participants agreed that the entire event was success. Unfortunately, overall attendance by members was low, particularly the Awards Dinner. Council has moved Conference over the past several years, searching for the best place and time, with no real success. There were approximately the same number of attendees at each of the past three Conferences.

The conference technical sessions were positively received. The presenters did an excellent job and their contribution of time and effort to prepare and attend the conference was greatly appreciated. Our thanks go to them all.

Without the financial contribution made by our conference sponsors, the event would not have been financially feasible. We thank the following generous donors:

Lead Sponsors: TD Insurance Meloche Monnex
Loyal Supporters: BAE-Newplan Group Limited; ExxonMobil; Great West Life; Technip Canada Limited; Vale Inco Newfoundland and Labrador Limited; XL Insurance Company Limited and Noble Drilling Ltd.
Others: AE Consultants Ltd.; Atlantic Minerals Limited; CECON Limited; FGA Consulting Engineers - A Division of the Acuren Group; Kavanagh and Associates Ltd.; Manulife Financial; Nalcor Energy; Newfoundland Design Associates Limited and Quadratec Inc.

Front L-R: Baxter Kean, P. Geo.; Barry Thomson, P. Eng.; Michael Tost, IOCC; Tony Dawe, P. Eng.
Back L-R: Doug Arthur, P. Eng. and Brian Penney, P. Eng.; both of IOCC.
(Photo by Paul Daly)
Click photo to enlarge

Jim Hinchey, P. Geo.
(Photo by Paul Daly)

The Awards Committee has had a very positive and successful year, identifying and nominating an excellent slate of people to receive PEGNL awards. The awards were presented at a dinner on June 12 during the 2009 AGM and Conference. The 2009 recipients are:

Award of Merit: Baxter Kean, P.Geo. and Tony Dawe, P.Eng.
Award for Service: James Hinchey, P.Geo.
Environmental Award: The Iron Ore Company of Canada - IOC Tailings Project: From Tailings to Biodiversity.

These awardees are very worthy recipients and demonstrate the great value that our professions make to our society. The award citations are available on the PEGNL website.

Congratulations to the award recipients and thanks to the Awards Committee members.