ASET Fall 2017 - 7
Where are we now?
At the time the Act was proclaimed, in 2009, Government advised
ASET and APEGA that the Act would be revisited in a legislative
review in some five years. These things take time, unfortunately,
and it was only in late 2016 that the process began - at the
institution of ASET and APEGA, a process to which Government
agreed. The process was - by Government's request - subject
to ASET and APEGA collaborating to produce a recommendation
for revision on which both agreed, and which might then be
put forward for consideration as a whole and, ideally, result in
revisions to the statute and regulations.
In the process settled on, both ASET and APEGA established
legislative review committees, which worked first independently
(to develop their own associations' perspectives on required
changes to the legislation), and then engaged with one another to
discuss various matters which each thought needed resolution.
The process was intended to lead, eventually, to the presentation
of a joint document to go forward to Government.
Without a great deal of elaboration, near the end of that process,
an impasse occurred - regarding the proposal by ASET that
the Act should include the scope of practice for engineering
or geoscience technologists. The proposal was essentially the
same as it has always been in the history of these discussions.
As a result of the impasse between the legislative review
committees, the resolution process in the Act led to a meeting
of the Joint Councils Committee - both Executive Committees,
essentially - where the issue was discussed, negotiated, and
argued at length. At the conclusion of the first such meeting,
ASET's executive officers were of the clear understanding that
APEGA had agreed to the scope of practice, provided that a
technologist working only under direct supervision by a P. Eng.
could be exempted. In the event, it appears that there was not
agreement. Shortly after the apparent agreement, APEGA
indicated that it had not agreed to the scope of practice. Sharp
exchanges followed, and correspondence. It was finally agreed
that the Joint Councils Committee would meet again. The same
topic was once again the subject of much energetic discussion.
Again, it seemed that finally there was explicit agreement
about the scope of practice, and some aspects of that were put
to writing and signed by those attending. Again, shortly after,
APEGA denied that there was agreement about a scope of
practice for technologists.
The next step was that APEGA independently filed its
position with Government, misleadingly in the view of ASET
in that it suggested that ASET was in support of APEGA's
recommendations and did not even mention ASET's position on
scope of practice. ASET then determined it had no choice but to
file its position - even though those documents would make it
clear to Government that there was no agreement on any of the
topics under discussion. Government then called the parties to a
meeting, to advise that unless the parties came with an agreed
proposal in all its respects, it could not proceed.
And that is where it stands now.
The Engineering and Geoscience Professions Act, under which
ASET regulates the engineering and geoscience technology
professions, includes - as referred to earlier - no scope or
definition of the practice of those professions. While we regulate
the admission to and the practice of engineering technology,
using competencies-based assessment standards which are
recognized all over North America as being state of the art
and highly effective, while we require continuing professional
development of our regulated members, the maintenance of
professional liability insurance, adherence to a rigorous code
of ethics, and a thorough and effective discipline and practice
process, we administer that public responsibility only to those
who voluntarily submit to it. ASET is, in every sense but one, a
self-regulated profession - the equal of the legal profession,
the engineering profession, the accounting profession, and so
on. It is that one exceptional aspect that is troubling... this is the
only self-regulating profession without a scope of practice
which defines who must be regulated and describes what its
members are authorized to do.
ASET, and its members, are deserving of recognition and respect
- at law, and particularly, one would think, from their colleagues
in their work lives - who are most often professional engineers.
In the real-life, every day world, that respect and recognition
holds strongly among professional engineers, and among the
organizations which employ technologists. We have consulted
with a great many of them, in this process, who actively support
our aim of a scope of practice. What reasons can there be to
refuse to agree with the proposal?
Think about this...
This is the definition we are currently using for the scope of
practice we propose:
"Practice of engineering technology means: Collecting, processing
and analyzing data, designing and preparing plans and
specifications, and evaluating systems, processes, equipment,
tools, designs, plans and specifications, aimed at the professional
application and maintenance of industry-recognised codes,
standards, procedures and practices applicable, and that require
the professional application of the principles of mathematics,
chemistry, physics or any related applied science subject to the
development of technical solutions, or the teaching of engineering
technology at a post-secondary educational institution."
That description includes common elements from each of
ASET's competency profiles and reiterates the limitation to
codes and standards and established principles.
How is it, one might well ask, that it is even necessary to seek
agreement on this? In fact, ASET's position is clear that this
description is all that is requested as our scope of practice. There
are no tricks here, no sleight of hand, no hidden meanings. Our
proposal is both straightforward and reasonable. This work is
what engineering technologists do every day, whether under
"supervision" or not. It is distinctly not work which requires any
authentication or "sign-off", or "stamping" by a professional
engineer or by anyone. Work within codes and standards and
applying established and accepted principles is, in theory,
work which anyone can do... without authentication.
TECHNOLOGY ALBERTA | FALL 2017 | 7
Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of ASET Fall 2017
ASET Fall 2017 - Cover1
ASET Fall 2017 - Cover2
ASET Fall 2017 - A
ASET Fall 2017 - 4
ASET Fall 2017 - 5
ASET Fall 2017 - 6
ASET Fall 2017 - 7
ASET Fall 2017 - 8
ASET Fall 2017 - 9
ASET Fall 2017 - 10
ASET Fall 2017 - 11
ASET Fall 2017 - 12
ASET Fall 2017 - 13
ASET Fall 2017 - 14
ASET Fall 2017 - 15
ASET Fall 2017 - 16
ASET Fall 2017 - 17
ASET Fall 2017 - 18
ASET Fall 2017 - 19
ASET Fall 2017 - 20
ASET Fall 2017 - 21
ASET Fall 2017 - 22
ASET Fall 2017 - 23
ASET Fall 2017 - 24
ASET Fall 2017 - 25
ASET Fall 2017 - 26
ASET Fall 2017 - 27
ASET Fall 2017 - 28
https://www.nxtbook.com/dawson/aset/ta_spring_2024
https://www.nxtbook.com/dawson/aset/ta_winter_2023
https://www.nxtbook.com/dawson/aset/ta_fall_2023
https://www.nxtbook.com/dawson/aset/ta_summer_2023
https://www.nxtbook.com/dawson/aset/ta_spring_2023
https://www.nxtbook.com/dawson/aset/ta_winter_2022
https://www.nxtbook.com/dawson/aset/ta_fall_2022
https://www.nxtbook.com/dawson/aset/ta_summer_2022
https://www.nxtbook.com/dawson/aset/ta_spring_2022
https://www.nxtbook.com/dawson/aset/ta_winter_2021
https://www.nxtbook.com/dawson/aset/ta_fall_2021
https://www.nxtbook.com/dawson/aset/ta_summer_2021
https://www.nxtbook.com/dawson/aset/ta_spring_2021
https://www.nxtbook.com/dawson/aset/ta_winter_2020
https://www.nxtbook.com/dawson/aset/ta_fall_2020
https://www.nxtbook.com/dawson/aset/ta_summer_2020
https://www.nxtbook.com/dawson/aset/ta_spring_2020
https://www.nxtbook.com/dawson/aset/ta_winter_2019
https://www.nxtbook.com/dawson/aset/ta_summer_2019
https://www.nxtbook.com/dawson/aset/ta_spring_2019
https://www.nxtbook.com/dawson/aset/ta_fall_dec2018
https://www.nxtbook.com/dawson/aset/aset55anniversary
https://www.nxtbook.com/dawson/aset/ta_spring_2018
https://www.nxtbook.com/dawson/aset/ta_winter_2018
https://www.nxtbook.com/dawson/aset/ta_fall_2017
https://www.nxtbook.com/dawson/aset/ta_spring_2017
https://www.nxtbook.com/dawson/aset/ta_winter_2017
https://www.nxtbook.com/dawson/aset/ta_fall_2016
https://www.nxtbook.com/dawson/aset/ta_summer_2016
https://www.nxtbook.com/dawson/aset/ta_spring_2016
https://www.nxtbook.com/dawson/aset/ta_winter_2016
https://www.nxtbook.com/dawson/aset/ta_fall_2015
https://www.nxtbook.com/dawson/aset/ta_summer_2015
https://www.nxtbook.com/dawson/aset/ta_spring_2015
https://www.nxtbookmedia.com