Policy Areas & Initiatives

National Licensing Working Group

Engineers and engineering firms in Canada must hold separate licenses in each province and territory, creating barriers to working across jurisdictions and limiting access to engineering expertise.

The National Licensing Working Group is exploring pathways to national licensing to reduce regulatory barriers, support labour mobility, and ensure Canadians have access to high-quality engineering services nationwide.

Currently, engineers are required to maintain separate Continuing Professional Development (CPD) records, often to marginally different standards. Engineering companies are required to maintain separate professional management plans.

Key Objectives

The mandate of the National Licensing Working Group is to examine and provide recommendations regarding pathways, challenges, and opportunities related to national engineering licensing in Canada.

This working group will act as an advisory and exploratory body, tasked with gathering perspectives, identifying issues, and preparing guidance to support OSPE’s leadership and advocacy efforts in shaping a unified approach to licensing across jurisdictions.

The primary outcome will be a set of recommendations regarding streamlining national mobility & CPD harmonization across provinces to ease the administrative burdens on engineers and provide Canadians with the best engineering solutions.

Sasha Harpe, P.Eng.

Working Group Chair

Sasha Harpe is the Civil and Rail Department Head for Tri Innovations. He has been working in railway engineering since graduating from Toronto Metropolitan University (previously Ryerson University) in 2013. As a railway engineer, Sasha holds licenses across Canada and is an active member of the American Railway Engineering and Maintenance of Way Association (AREMA) where he contributes to the development of the North American design standards for railways.

Sasha has supported both the Toronto Metropolitan University and the University of Alberta’s railway engineering through the sponsorship of capstone projects and guest lectures. Sasha is currently working with OSPE to identify the best paths to improve inter-provincial engineering mobility and pan Canadian licensure.