executive director’s message

overview of the CIQS 50th Annual General Meeting

lois metcalfe, ciqs executive director

he 50th CIQS Annual General Meeting was held at the Fairmont Royal Hotel in downtown Toronto on June 18 to 22, 2009 hosted by the Ontario Institute of Quantity Surveyors. One of the reasons the Organizing Committee selected the Royal York Hotel as the venue for the 50th anniversary was that the 1st Annual General Meeting of the CIQS was held at this hotel in 1959.

This historic event was kicked off on Thursday, June 18 with CIQS Council meeting for a full day to review reports for the AGM to be held on Saturday and tidy up outstanding matters for the 2008/09 year. Roy Lewis, representative from NLAQS, was elected as CIQS 2nd Vice President. Congratulations Roy!

A full day of informative technical sessions was held on Friday, June 19 including a networking luncheon which was organized by Ada Cheung and Vincent Chung. A Welcome Reception, sponsored by the Ontario Association of Consulting Quantity Surveyors, was enjoyed by all on Friday evening.

The 50th CIQS Annual General Meeting was held on Saturday, June 19. This AGM received the highest attendance on record which was a tribute to the progress the Institute has made. Each delegate at the AGM received a book produced under the direction of Colin Randall-Smith, Chair of the 50th Anniversary Historical Committee, as a memento of the occasion. If you would like to receive a copy of this book please refer to page 28 for ordering details.

The first meeting of the 2009/10 Council was held directly following the AGM. Welcome to new members of Council – Chris Reinert from Alberta, Mark Gardin from Nova Scotia, Bruno Pilieci from Ontario and Mark Russell from British Columbia. Returning members of Council include Herve Couture, Roy Lewis and Orest Stachniak. David Lai will continue his second year as CIQS Education Administrator. I was retained as Executive Director as well as Joshua Mutize as Editor of the Construction Economist.

OIQS students organized and led the CIQS Amazing Walk on Saturday afternoon. Despite the weather, everyone seemed to have a good time. The highlight of the weekend was the President’s Gala on Saturday evening held in the famous Imperial Room at the Royal York Hotel.

On Sunday morning a farewell breakfast gave everyone an opportunity to say good-bye. Golfers left for the CIQS golf tournament while others lingered over coffee to remiss about the weekend. The Clive Evans Living Golf Tournament was held at the Royal Woodbine Golf Course. Golfers enjoyed a beautiful day of sunshine at the prestigious course.

Separate reports as well as photographs on all the events can be found in this issue. To view additional photos of the events, please visit http://ciqs. smugmug.com/. You will be able to download photographs from this website if you wish.

The CIQS 50th Anniversary celebration was certainly a memorable event that celebrated our past accomplishments as well as looking forward to the future. On behalf of the CIQS, I would like to thank the delegates for attending, the sponsors for their financial support, our technical session speakers for their time and insight and the Organizing Committee for their hard work. Without all of you, the event would not have been such a success.