August 22/23, 2002

At the meeting of the Board of Directors on August 22/23, 2002, the following decisions and reports were made:

Report from the Chair
The Chair expressed her pride in the Society's accomplishments to date including the launch of EngineersFirst, the pursuit of an insurance affinity program, the development of the Pathways program, the Society's response to the Walkerton Inquiry, and a recent article in the Globe and Mail. In addition, individual Board members have been active providing members for the Ministry of Municipal Affairs and Housing BRAAG consultations, representing the Society at PEO Council, reviewing PEO's Technology Licensure Task Force Report, making preliminary arrangements for this year's General Assembly, reviewing the Society's financial control policies, and providing support to the Student Membership Campaign.

The Chair is involved with the PEO/OSPE Negotiating Committee and the Ad Hoc Committee. She attended a conference in Washington dealing with critical infrastructure security, the Consulting Engineers Ontario (CEO) Annual General Meeting and has attended, as a member, meetings of the PEO Awards Committee.

Audit and Investments Committee
Members of the Society's Audit and Investments Committee, a standing committee of the board, will be Chris Cragg, P.Eng., (Chair), Danny Young, P.Eng., and Stephen Fischer, P.Eng..

PEO/OSPE Negotiating Committee
This Committee will meet monthly starting in October 2002. A Joint Review Board will be constituted, as per the November 7, 2000 legal agreement, to resolve disputes as they arise. A presentation about the Society's strategic plan will be made to PEO Council at its November meeting and an information package about the Society will be sent to all PEO Chapter leaders.

Technology Licensure Task Force
The PEO Technology Licensure Working Group Report report recommends offering a special class of license to Certified Engineering Technologists (CETs) within the limited license provisions of the Professional Engineers Act.

Representatives from the Ontario Association of Certified Engineering Technicians and Technologists (OACETT) attended the Society's board meeting: Angela Shama, Executive Director, P.Eng., CET; Dr. Felix Degan, P.Eng., CET, President and David Holmes, CET. John Gamble, P.Eng., President of Consulting Engineers Ontario was also present for a discussion about this issue.

It was felt that the Society should consult our members to learn their views; this issue could be included in the member research to be conducted in the next few weeks. More information is needed.

Membership Recruitment Campaign
It is recommended that a third wave be added to the current membership campaign. This will include continuing with the student membership campaign and two telephone recruitment initiatives, one conducted by external professionals and one undertaken by the members of the Society's Board of Directors.

Student Membership Campaign
'ERTW' (Engineers Rule the World) materials were developed with student input and a contest will be launched Sept. 1, 2002, challenging each of Ontario's engineering schools to recruit the most new student members for the Society. The Society's students-only website is nearly ready to be launched.

Bylaw Changes
At the end of the transition period on January 1, 2004, the Society will be faced with a number of significant changes and the current bylaws are not written to take these changes into account. In addition, over the course of the past year a number of procedural questions have arisen that require clarification within the bylaws. With this in mind the Chair, Society staff and legal counsel completed a bylaw review. The results of this review were presented to the board.

Appointment of the Bylaw Working Group
It was agreed that a Bylaw Working Group of C. Cragg, P.Eng., R. Goodings, P.Eng., and D. Young, P.Eng. will work with Society legal counsel and staff to draft a new bylaw to present to the full board.

Pathways Program
The Pathways program is designed to integrate new Canadian engineers into the Ontario employment market. The Ministry of Training, Colleges and Universities is funding the program with a $750,000 grant over two years from their Bridges Program.

The Society is partnering with CEO (CEO members are providing employment opportunities) and PEO (PEO is setting program qualification benchmarks). All candidates for the program are PEO Applicants for Licensure whose academic credentials have been accepted by PEO.

2002 General Assembly/Member Research
It was proposed that this year's General Assembly be used to gain member feedback and input into our approach to advocacy and how the Society can more directly respond to member concerns. It was noted that there seems to be little consensus among members as to what advocacy means. The board is supportive of an advocacy theme for the General Assembly.

Correspondence
A letter from CCPE to the Society suggested that CCPE would like to speak directly with the Society rather than through PEO. The Society has let CCPE know that we are pursuing our own home and auto insurance program for members. In addition, we commented that we hope our relationship with CCPE would encompass much more than insurance programs. Representatives from CCPE will be invited to attend the Society board meeting on October 17, 2002.

Privacy Policy
At the March 22, 2002 board meeting, a privacy policy was approved by the board with the addition of one sentence indicating that the policy was in compliance with the PEO/OSPE Agreement. The Society's legal counsel noted that the privacy policy is in compliance with legislation and, in fact, the PEO/OSPE Agreement should be in compliance with the policy rather than the other way around. The policy was approved with the sentence referring to the PEO/OSPE Agreement removed.