APRIL 2007 ISSUE
President’s Notebook
President’s Visits Provide
a Snapshot of Alberta
BY DAVID CHALCROFT, P.ENG.
APEGGA President
One of the delightful duties your President has during a busy and challenging year in office is to visit APEGGA’s 10 branches around the province. The President meets with each branch executive, as well as local business and government leaders in their communities, and presents a rundown of APEGGA issues and activities.
Accompanied by President-Elect John McLeod, P.Eng., and Executive Director & Registrar Neil Windsor, P.Eng., I set off in November in Calgary. By the end of March, we had covered all but one branch. The often jam-packed itinerary at each location was orchestrated by Pat Lobregt, APEGGA’s Manager, Executive and External Liaison, and in many cases it had to be timed to the minute.
Last year I toured with then-president Larry Staples, P.Eng. It’s interesting to note some of the changes since then.
Optimism in Fort McMurray
In Fort McMurray concerns last year centred on a lack of attention from government to fund infrastructure development. This year, those concerns have given way to a new optimism in the Regional Municipality of Wood Buffalo.
Mayor Melissa Blake now has a professional engineering staff working on planning and implementing the projects made necessary by a growth rate of nine per cent per year. In place is a list of needed infrastructure, and the cost estimates near $1 billion. Design is underway on priority projects, and good news arrived soon after our visit when the province announced $350 million in funding.
The community will soon have the infrastructure in place to handle growth from today’s population of 75,000 to the expected 150,000 or so by 2015. That should cover off the completion and start of operation for the current $100-billion-plus wave of oil sands projects.
Our guest speaker, Fort McMurray-Athabasca MP Brian Jean, reminded us that the federal government previously announced some $150 million towards upgrading Highway 63 into Fort McMurray.
Our field trip to the OPTI/Nexen project at Long Lake confirmed our impression that there’s a new confidence in Wood Buffalo. Many people of the area believe that the pieces have begun falling into place, to make Wood Buffalo the long-term economic engine of Alberta.
Cold Lake Deployment
The communities of Cold Lake, Lloydminster and Red Deer seem to be coping fairly
well with the boom.
At CFB Cold Lake 4 Wing, Col. Randy Meiklejohn is commander of the Aeronautical
Engineering Test Establishment. Some of his personnel are deployed to a number
of locations, including Fort Lauderdale, Fla. They are working with the supplier
of Canada’s new military helicopters, and others are looking forward to
the delivery later this year of four new aircraft for Canada, the heavy-lift
C-17.
Universal Industries in Lloydminster is manufacturing several major boiler units
for the Horizon Project in the oil sands. Lakeland College is striving to create
a biofuels industry using locally grown canola.
Mixed News in Grande Prairie
In Grande Prairie we were met with mixed economic news. The forestry industry
is not booming.
Our hosts from Weyerhaeuser
pointed out that international prices for pulp and lumber products are very low,
and that new competition is on the scene in Brazil. Trees there grow to maturity
in eight years - versus the 80 years it takes in Alberta.
Adding to the industry’s woes is the mountain pine beetle, which is beginning to lay waste to huge tracts of Alberta forest.
Recruiting new engineers into the industry is a major problem under these conditions. Cost efficiency is the short-term strategy, and competition for engineers from other Alberta sectors is intense.
Another eye-opening experience was our tour of a co-generation plant in Grande
Prairie, which burns waste wood chips and sawdust from sawmills in the region.
This 25-MW, Canadian Hydro Developers plant is classified as “green,” because
without it the waste would rot and release greenhouse gases.
A visit to Schlumberger brought us face to face with about 20 new graduates and
members-in-training from across Canada and around the world. It was great to
see that Schlumberger’s management actively encourages employees to seek
professional licensure.
We completed our visit to Grande Prairie with a dinner meeting, where we were greeted with positive remarks from the Hon. Mel Knight, Alberta Minister of Energy. Particularly gratifying was his encouragement that we conclude discussions with ASET on the one Act, two Associations regulatory model.
The people of Alberta will benefit from this improved regulatory framework, the minister told us, so keep after it.
Many thanks to our branch executives for helping organize the meetings and site tours, and for providing feedback on our three professions.
Thank You, Everyone
As I conclude my term, I’d like to thank all members for the opportunity
to serve as your 87th President. I also congratulate my colleagues on APEGGA
Council for contributing to our responsibilities in setting policy and overseeing
APEGGA.
All professional members can be proud of the thorough and professional manner in which APEGGA staff members carry out their duties on our behalf. Good luck to incoming President John McLeod, P.Eng., and the new Council.
A Notebook Recap
Let me leave you with a few reminders of my key messages over the past 12 months.
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Bringing technologists under the regulatory framework of the EGGP Act will enhance our ability to protect the public interest.
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Improving highway safety is an area where the expertise of professional engineers can make a huge impact in coming years. However, there also needs to be a paradigm shift in public and political attitudes if we are to significantly reduce traffic fatalities.
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Personalized professionalism is the internal compass guiding our professional members. It’s about doing the right thing in the public interest.
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Climate change is a reality. Besides working on programs to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, our members will be front and centre in programs to adapt our infrastructure to the effects of climate change.
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The APEGGA Education Foundation is ramping up its financial ability to better attract and support the growing number of students in Alberta’s engineering and geoscience programs. It deserves the support of all APEGGA members – so please, do consider making an annual donation.
It’s been a pleasure - good luck to you all in your professional careers.