March 6 - The Alberta Land Surveyors

COUNCIL
REPORT
March 6, 2014
The Council of the Alberta Land Surveyors’ Association met on March 6, 2014. The candidates for Council were
invited to attend the meeting. Here is a summary of their discussions.
From the Registrar
Council approved applications
from CAP Geomatics Ltd.,
Jones & Associates Surveys
Ltd., and Vision Geomatics Inc.
to cancel their registrations as
surveyor’s corporations.
Council approved applications
from Mark Prevost and Steve
Vollick to be exempted from the
provisions of the professional
liability insurance bylaw as they
are not currently practicing
surveying in Alberta.
Council approved Baseline
Geomatics Group Ltd. for
registration as a surveyor’s
corporation under the personal
supervision, direction and
control of Brian Ball, ALS. The
surveyor’s corporation received
approval to use the same permit
stamp, P227, as it had previously.
Council approved applications to
change the names of Global
Raymac HIW Surveys (a
division of Global Raymac
Surveys Inc.) and Munro Global
Surveys (a division of Global
Raymac Surveys Inc.) to Global
Raymac Surveys Inc.
Council tabled discussion of an
application for retired
membership as the practitioner
did not sign the application form.
Council directed the
Registrar to cancel the
registration of all members who
have not paid the 2014-2015
dues pursuant to the Land
Surveyors Act, the Examination &
Training Regulation or the
bylaws, following the expiration
of thirty (30) days notice unless
the practitioner, on whom the
notice is served, complies with
the notice. Membership dues
must be sent out by March 15.
The annual membership fees and
annual levies become due on
April 1 in each year and are
payable on or before April 30
Council directed the Registrar,
for the 2014-2015 term, to cancel
the registration of any
practitioner who has not
provided proof of professional
liability insurance pursuant to
Section 65 of the ALSA Bylaws,
following the expiration of thirty
(30) days notice unless the
practitioner, on whom the notice
is served, complies with the
notice.
2014-2015 Budget
Council approved the 2014-2015
budget. Highlights of the budget
include:
 No increase to any
membership dues although
the convention levy will
increase by $20 as per
Council’s motion last year.
 Post sales budgeted to be
close to the actual sales last
year.
 ALS News could eventually be
turned into an e-magazine to
save printing and mailing
costs but there were concerns
that the magazine would not
be as well read.
 Investment return budgeted
to be a more conservative 5%.
 The ALSA will stop taking
American Express because of
its high discount rate.
 Provision for a full-time
registrar.
 Committee expenses are flat
but some committee expenses
were reduced to reflect actual
expenses.
 CCR Expenses to reflect actual
costs.
 Net income after investments
and expenditures from the
funds is a projected surplus of
$55,261.
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COUNCIL
REPORT
March 6, 2014
Government Relations
The Future of Surveying
Council received an update from
its legal counsel, David Jardine,
concerning its applications
against three non-land surveyors
for practicing land surveying.
Council met with the new
Minister of Service Alberta, Doug
Griffiths, to discuss land titles
matters. The ALSA will meet with
Land Titles staff to assist in
identifying the business and
technical requirements for
establishing a digital
submissions/e-signature process
for the ALTA 2 initiative.
The day after the March 6
Council meeting, Council held a
strategic planning session to
discuss the future of surveying.
The session was facilitated by an
outside consultant and attended
by Council, candidates for
Council, the Director of Surveys
and the Surveyor General of
Canada.
Bruce Clark will represent that
ALSA on a hybrid cadastre
committee while Steven Van
Berkel, Irwin Maltais and Mike
Fretwell will be the Alberta Land
Surveyors representing the ALSA
on the working group. The
Director of Surveys will speak
about his hybrid cadastre
initiative at the AGM.
The ALSA attended the
provincial government’s March 3
speech from the throne.
Council received a report
concerning a workshop held to
discuss the Lower Athabasca
Regional Plan.
Council approved an updated
provincial government relations
plan.
During the day-long meeting, the
group reviewed where surveying
had been and where it is right
now and tried to develop some
ideas as to where the profession
wants to take it in the future.
Council decided to form a small
task force with broad terms of
reference to brainstorm some
ideas and create a plan of action
based on where Council believes
the future of surveying is headed.
Recommendations
for the AGM
Articling Pupil
Council approved a
recommendation from the
Articling Pupil Process Ad Hoc
Committee to change the
Examination & Training
Regulation as a result of the ad
hoc committee’s report and
recommendations approved by
Council in 2013. The proposed
amendments update the
regulation to, in part, streamline
the process and eliminate those
things which do not help the
Registration Committee assess
whether a pupil is ready to be an
Alberta Land Surveyor.
Registered Survey Technologist
Council approved a
recommendation from the RST
Implementation Ad Hoc
Committee to create a registered
survey technologist title under
the Land Surveyors Act and
proposed regulation. The
recommendation would give
senior technologists a right to
title but would not provide a
scope of practice for them.
The intent of the
recommendation is to establish
the education and experience
requirements necessary for a
survey technologist to earn a
registered survey technologist
designation.
The recommendation will go
forward to the 2014 AGM for
consideration by the
membership.
Upper Limit Funding
Council approved a
recommendation from the
Association Finances Ad Hoc
Committee to amend the bylaws
to increase the upper limit on
membership dues, fines and
levies.
The ad hoc committee was asked
to propose the bylaw
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COUNCIL
REPORT
March 6, 2014
The overall intent of the
recommendation is to create a
stable revenue stream in order to
maintain the level of service that
the Association provides.
Under the proposed bylaw, the
ALSA would collect a fee from
every Alberta Land Surveyor for
their PSC dues. Alberta Land
Surveyors would still be required
to sign up for a membership. This
is known as the “all-in funding
model.”
The proposed bylaw amendment
does not increase the
membership fees. It only
increases the maximum amount
that could be invoiced.
The new funding model was
introduced to the provincial land
survey associations at the ACLS
National Surveyors Conference
in Niagara Falls in 2013.
Measurements & Accuracies
Council considered a
recommendation from the
Standards Committee to revise
the introduction to Part C,
Section 1 of the Manual of
Standard Practice. However,
Council decided the
recommendation was unclear
and complicated and felt that
there needed to be room for
practitioners to exercise their
professional judgment. The
recommendation will not be
going forward to the AGM and
the matter was removed from the
committee’s terms of reference.
PSC provides services directly to
its members. Currently Alberta
Land Surveyors who are not
members of PSC do benefit from
the programs, initiatives and
advocacy done by PSC.
Professional Surveyors Canada
Council approved forwarding a
proposed bylaw amendment
from PSC to the AGM for
consideration by the
membership.
If PSC is to survive and fulfill its
mandate in a meaningful way, it
must have adequate and stable
funding. With the “all-in” model,
PSC will be able to plan and
budget for its activities.
amendments based on its report
to Council in January.
Currently ALSA pays a $58.62
levy to PSC per member as
participating Associations are
charged a fee for membership in
PSC.
The fee for members of an “all-in”
Association is $200. The fee for
members that are not with an “allin” Association will be $250.
Other
Recommendations
Standards
The Standards Committee put
forward a recommendation to
expand its existing term of
reference to “develop a standard
or guideline outlining the issues
that practitioners should
address when an Alberta Land
Surveyor leaves the employ of a
surveyor’s corporation or
surveyor’s partnership and their
collective professional
responsibilities and make
recommendations to Council”
to also include practitioners
retiring, resigning their
commission and passing away.
Council determined that the
Standards Committee should
carry on with its existing term
of reference.
Practice Review Board
The Practice Review Board, as
part of its existing terms of
reference, provides Council with
an annual report on areas on noncompliance and suggests
questions to the Registration
Committee for the preparation of
the professional examinations.
Council approved publishing the
areas of non-compliance in ALS
News.
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COUNCIL
REPORT
March 6, 2014
Council approved forwarding the
suggested professional
examination questions to the
Registration Committee.
External Relations
Council agreed to accept an
invitation to attend a geomatics
education symposium that will
focus on recruitment strategies,
employability of geomatics
professionals and technicians
and the challenges faced by the
geomatics education facilities
and the geomatics industry. The
event scheduled for May 22,
2014.
Mandatory
Continuing Professional
Development
Council approved a mandatory
continuing professional
development program as part of
the Association’s existing
Continuing Competency Review
program.
The full report of the Professional
Development Committee is
available online at
www.alsa.ab.ca/Portals/0/PDF/M
ember_Resources/Reference_Mat
erial/Continuing_Competency/M
CPD_Program_Outline.pdf.
Alberta Land Surveyors will be
expected to enter in their
continuing education activities
through the to-be-developed
national GeoEd web portal.
Practitioners will enter in the
specific activities in one of the
categories and the number of
hours they spent on that activity.
Practice Review will continue to
ask the CPD questions currently
in the CCR questionnaire.
The categories are expected to be:
(i) formal activities (courses,
seminars, webinars), (ii)
participation in association
committees/meetings, (iii)
presentations, papers, and
research, (iv) informal activities
(self-study, reading magazines),
(v) community involvement and
(vi) other.
The Alberta Land Surveyor will
be informed that they need to
make sure their CPD tracking
report is up-to-date prior to
submitting the CCR
questionnaire.
Alberta Land Surveyors will not
be required to report their
continuing professional
development activities by a
specific date each year. Instead,
Alberta Land Surveyors will be
encouraged to enter in the
continuing professional
development activities on a
regular basis (i.e.: monthly, semiannually, annually).
When an Alberta Land Surveyor’s
CCR file is opened, there will no
longer be questions in the CCR
questionnaire about the
practitioner’s continuing
professional development
activities. Instead, the Director of
Practice Review will go to the
GeoEd web portal and extract
that Alberta Land Surveyor’s
activities from the system and
include that information in the
Director’s analysis. Until such
time as the web portal is fully
operational, the Director of
A new question will be added to
the CCR questionnaire for
Alberta Land Surveyors to ask
what professional development
activities they plan on
undertaking during the next CCR
period. The purpose of this selfassessment is to assist
practitioners in determining their
professional development needs
by reflecting on where they are in
their career and what knowledge
and skill sets they need at that
level.
The Director of Practice Review
will analyze the information
contained within the CCR
questionnaire (including the selfassessment) and the continuing
professional development
activities and conduct a holistic
review of the Alberta Land
Surveyor.
The Director of Practice Review,
as is done now, will make his
recommendations to the Practice
Review Board. The Director of
Practice Review may make a
number of recommendations
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COUNCIL
REPORT
March 6, 2014
concerning the Alberta Land
Surveyor’s continuing
professional development
activities. Those
recommendations may include
(but are not limited to):
a. That the practitioner attends
specific seminars or courses
b. That the practitioner spends
more time on certain CPD
activities (i.e.: become
involved with an ALSA
committee)
c. That the practitioner
reconsiders his selfassessment for continuing
professional development
based on concerns or issues
identified elsewhere during
the review.
d. That the practitioner
explains why, if applicable,
they did not undertake all of
the professional
development activities they
planned.
The Practice Review Board will
issue its decision to the
practitioner.
No changes to acts or regulations
are required.
Trade Names
Council gave first reading to
amend policy 2005.08.014.
The original policy was designed
for sole practitioners who wanted
to use a trade name. The
amended policy allows for
surveyor’s corporations and
surveyor’s partnerships to use a
trade name and indicates when
that trade name must be
approved by Council.
Anyone who wishes to comment
on the proposed policy is
encouraged to contact any
member of Council or the ALSA
office.
before Council approves the use
of the trade name. The permit
stamp shall bear the name of the
official name of the surveyor’s
corporation or surveyor’s
partnership and the trade name.
The register of surveyor’s
corporations and surveyor’s
partnerships shall bear both the
official name of the permit holder
and the trade name.
Sole practitioners who wish to
use a trade name must have the
name approved by Council. The
sole practitioner must provide
proof of declaration of trade
name as required under the
Alberta Partnership Act before
Council approves the use of the
trade name. No permit stamp
shall be issued to a sole
practitioner using a trade name.
The sole practitioner's
correspondence shall clearly
indicate the name of the ALS or
ALSs responsible for the practice.
Surveyor’s corporations and
surveyor’s partnerships who wish
to use a trade name but the trade
name uses only words contained
in the official name of the
surveyor’s corporation or
surveyor’s partnership do not
require approval from Council.
The permit stamp shall bear the
name of the official name of the
surveyor’s corporation or
surveyor’s partnership. The
register of surveyor’s
corporations and surveyor’s
partnerships shall bear the
official name of the permit holder
and not the trade name.
Surveyor’s corporations and
surveyor’s partnerships who wish
to use a trade name must have
the name approved by Council if
the trade name uses any words
not contained in the official
name of the surveyor’s
corporation or surveyor’s
partnership. The surveyor’s
corporation or surveyor’s
partnership must provide proof
of declaration of trade name
Branch offices of surveyor’s
corporations or surveyor’s
partnerships who wish to use a
name other than the official
name of the surveyor’s
corporation or surveyor’s
partnership must have the name
approved by Council. The
surveyor’s corporation or
surveyor’s partnership must
provide proof of declaration of
trade name before Council
The proposed policy would read:
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COUNCIL
REPORT
March 6, 2014
approves the use of the trade
name. The permit stamp shall
bear the name of the official
name of the surveyor’s
corporation or surveyor’s
partnership and the name of the
branch office. The register of
surveyor’s corporations and
surveyor’s partnerships shall bear
both the official name of the
permit holder and the trade
name.
Short Cuts
Council approved asking the
provincial government to reappoint Russ Barnes as the public
member on Council.
Council reviewed the AGM
committee reports and
recommendations package.
Council reviewed the first draft
of a pan-Canadian geomatics
strategy put together by the
Canadian Geomatics Community
Round Table (CGCRT).
“The Canadian Geomatics
Community Round Table is
collaboration between
governments, the private sector,
educators and students,
professional associations and
non governmental organizations
(NGOs). A key goal of the
CGCRT is to examine common
issues facing the geomatics sector
to re position the sector for
future success. The objective of
the strategy is to better meet the
needs of, and enable the ever
growing Geospatial Community
that depends on reliable, accurate
and fit for purpose geospatial
services and expertise.”
Council reviewed, with great
concern, a decision of the Alberta
Human Rights Tribunal. A
foreign-trained engineer, Mihaly
filed a discrimination complaint
with the Alberta Human Rights
Commission. In a story in the
Edmonton Journal: “The tribunal
found in his favour. Chairman
Moosa Jiwaji ruled that APEGA’s
“one-size-fits-all” approach was
too inflexible. He found APEGA
relied on out-dated, second-hand
information to evaluate foreign
universities. He ordered APEGA
to pay Mihaly $10,000, provide
him a personal mentor, and strike
a committee of internationally
educated engineers to re-evaluate
Mihaly’s personal academic
record.” APEGA is appealing the
decision.
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