IN COUNCIL
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COUNCIL ELIMINATES CANADIAN EXPERIENCE REQUIREMENT By Nicole Axworthy
555TH AND 556TH MEETINGS, FEBRUARY 24 AND MARCH 31, 2023
At its March meeting, Council unanimously approved a motion to eliminate the one year of Canadian experience required for licensure. Council formally directed the CEO/registrar to begin work with the Ministry of the Attorney General (MAG) on the necessary amendments to Regulation 941 to remove the Canadian experience requirement for licensure in its present form in order to comply with the provisions of section 10.2 of the Fair Access to Regulated Professions and Compulsory Trades Act (FARPACTA). As part of the motion, Council also directed staff to explore any unintended consequences of the removal of this requirement through meaningful stakeholder engagement. Currently, PEO requires that applicants for a professional engineer licence acquire four years of engineering work experience, including 12 months of engineering experience in Canada under the supervision of a licensed professional engineer. There is also a supervised Canadian experience requirement for the temporary, provisional and limited licences. Under FARPACTA, the Canadian experience requirement will become null and void as of December 2, 2023, unless a health and safety exemption is granted by the Minister of Labour, Training and Skills Development, on the recommendation of the fairness commissioner. In the absence of such an exemption, it will be necessary for PEO to amend the current regulation so it is aligned with the FARPACTA-driven changes. PEO staff will work with MAG on draft amendments to Regulation 941. When ready, these regulation changes will be presented to the Regulatory Policy and Legislation Committee (RPLC) and then to Council for final approval before being sent to the Cabinet for approval and proclamation. ELIMINATION OF COMMITTEES At its February meeting, Council passed a motion to stand down the Advisory Committee on Volunteers, Education Committee and Education Conference Planning Subcommittee, Equity and Diversity Committee, External Honours Subcommittee and Gala Advisory Committee (both part of the Awards Committee), PEO-OAA Joint Liaison Committee, PEO-OSPE Joint Relations Committee and Volunteer Leadership Conference Planning Committee. Council also approved the transfer of the President’s Award (renamed the Engineering Ally Award) to the Ontario Society of Professional Engineers and the suspension of the V.G. Smith Award and S.E. Wolfe Thesis Award until further review. The above changes are the result of an activity filter that was part of a high-level action plan approved by Council in 2019 in response to recommendations from an external review of PEO’s regulatory performance. The activity filter assessed all of PEO’s activities and categorized them as governance, regulatory or neither governance nor regulatory. The activity filter analysis concluded that the
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aforementioned activities do not fulfill statutory functions and are neither governance nor regulatory. When developing recommendations for the activities in the “neither” category, the Governance and Nominating Committee (GNC) considered a full elimination or elimination of high-risk activities and adapting and operationalizing the rest of them. A risk management process followed, including risk and mitigation assessment and consultations with PEO stakeholders. COUNCIL RENUMERATION FRAMEWORK REVIEW At its February meeting, Council directed staff to undertake further broad exploration and study, including a variety of options, on the Council Remuneration Framework and to report back to the GNC and ultimately Council for further consideration. As part of its 2022–2023 workplan, the GNC was tasked with researching and setting direction on a framework for Council remuneration. It has been nearly a decade since Council has considered remuneration for councillors. A previous motion recommending honoraria that was put forward to Council in 2014 was defeated. Since then, according to the briefing note, there has been a prevailing shift in self-regulation toward professionalization of boards, and remuneration is increasingly seen as an effective governance practice in the regulation of professions. Currently, only Council lay members receive remuneration, paid for by the province. NEW DIRECTOR TO ENGINEERS CANADA BOARD At its February meeting, Council appointed Tim Kirkby, P.Eng., FEC, as a PEO director on the Engineers Canada (EC) board for a three-year term effective May 27, 2023, at the EC annual meeting of members. Kirkby replaces Danny Chui, P.Eng., FEC, who has represented PEO on the board since 2017. BRIDGE GOALS FOR CEO/REGISTRAR At its February meeting, Council approved the CEO/registrar goals as presented in Appendix A of the briefing note. These goals are meant to bridge a gap between the former CEO/registrar, Johnny Zuccon, P.Eng., FEC, and the current CEO/registrar, Jennifer Quaglietta, MBA, P.Eng., ICD.D, who joined PEO in January. Setting and monitoring goals and objectives for the CEO/registrar is an important component of Council’s role in moving the organization forward. With the goals approved, the Human Resources and Compensation Committee will work with the CEO/registrar to review performance in working towards the specified goals and objectives and provide regular feedback, subject to any input from Council. Any changes or updates to the goals will be brought forward to Council for review and approval.
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