ASET Technology Alberta Summer 2019 - 19

ASET revised its request - in the hope of finding a solution and
encouraged to do so by some of its partners from APEGA - replacing the originally requested addition of a "scope of practice" within the Act with a "definition of technologist practice"
coupled with a Section exempting C.E.T.s operating within that
definition from the exclusive scope of the P.Eng.
During mediation, the ASET team applied the same philosophy
it has throughout all discussions with APEGA since the beginning: remaining open, flexible and transparent with APEGA,
and adapting its position to address APEGA's concerns and to
find solutions.
However, mediation ended earlier this year with APEGA's refusal to accept or adopt ASET's proposal for either a scope of
practice or a definition of technologists and an exemption for
their work from the engineering limitation.

APEGA still are regarding regulation under EGPA, and the
public interest."
ASET council is now exploring and weighing options for
how to move forward in addressing its requested changes
to EGPA. It has the support of the leadership of Technology
Professionals Canada (TPC) which recently endorsed the
definition of technologist practice as promulgated by ASET
in the legislative review process.
The scope of practice issue is currently under active discussion between ASET's TPC counterpart, ASTTBC, and
the Government of British Columbia. The goal is to utilise a
similar definition and exemptions or the scope of practice
in their legislation, relying heavily on the work and leadership initiated by ASET.

The ASET mediation team, supported by ASET's council,
agreed on a joint proposal to government on a number of items
to revise the Act, some of which were seen as legitimately in the
public interest. Some items were primarily required by APEGA
for their own purposes, and some were supported by ASET because those items offered improvement in the Act.
However, this left unresolved the major issues identified by
ASET, and the issue outstanding since ASET's creation in 1963:
the role and practice rights of engineering technologists.

Next steps for ASET
Cavanaugh says that ASET has worked conscientiously and
in good faith within the one Act, two associations model in
Alberta legislation, and throughout the mediation process
in an effort to make the Act more effective in modern regulation and protecting the public interest.
"Establishment of the practice rights of technologists
would help to prevent engineering work being performed
by unqualified people, and would have the related effect of
identifying who is qualified," said Cavanaugh. "The ultimate
outcome of the process - including the Engineers Canada
announcement - demonstrates just how far apart ASET and

TECHNOLOGY ALBERTA | SUMMER 2019 | 19
ASET Technology Alberta Summer 2019

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of ASET Technology Alberta Summer 2019
