INNOVATION November-December 2015

n ewsmaker s

A project designed by current and past APEGBC student members has recently won third place at the 2015 Water Environment Federations Annual Technical Exhibition. Current student member Allison Matfin and former student members Clayton McBride, Maureen Long, and Brendan Vissers, along with fellow engineering student Stephanie Wall, designed an anaerobic waste-water digester for the City of Kelowna. The large silo that attracted judges’ attention allows micro- organisms to break down sewage in an oxygen-free environment to produce methane, which is then used as a source of clean, renewable energy. Kelowna is considering the design for future use. The team placed third among 10 teams competing at the exhibition. The five students are studying environmental engineering at the University of Northern British Columbia. The Water Environment Federation is a not-for-profit technical and educational organization with 36,000 individual members and 75 affiliated member associations representing water-quality professionals worldwide. Its annual conference and technical exhibition is the largest conference of its kind in North America.

Student Members Shine

Quebec Self-Regulation Under Review Over the last few years, Quebec’s engineering regulatory body, the Ordre des Ingénieurs du Québec (OIQ), has been undergoing a number of challenges. Members rejected several proposed fee increases, and challenges were made to their mandatory professional liability insurance, continuing professional development (CPD) program, governance practices and other issues. As a result, the government ministry responsible for OIQ, the Office des Professions du Québec (the Office), entrusted two

officials to conduct a complete review of the association. Describing the situation as a “crisis at the Ordre,” the government reviewers made 21 recommendations, and OIQ is now developing an implementation plan. Among the list of recommendations are specific items that cover fee setting, board governance, compliance with CPD and ethics, professional practice investigations (which are being increased to 4,000 per year), and committee structure. Additional notes:

1. At OIQ, investigations and discipline are managed through an arms-length body called the Syndic which is wholly funded by OIQ, but under separate administration and governance. 2. The current fee base at OIQ is $310 plus mandatory ancillary fees and taxes, totalling $427. The reviewers recommended that this fee was insufficient and needed to be increased. The reviewers concluded: “Without strict follow-up and the guidance of the Office, we believe that the current unease within the Ordre will persist for a long time.” Concerns over self-regulation for any professional engineering regulatory body have strong implications for all self-regulation in Canada. For provincial engineering and geoscience regulators across the country, there are compelling lessons to be learned from the situation faced by OIQ in Quebec. The complete French version of the report is available on the website of the Office des Professions du Québec . An English-language translation is available at apeg.bc.ca/News/Articles/ Quebec-Self-Regulation-under-Review.

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