june 2009 issue
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Professional Practice & Ethics Corner
APEGGA members with professional practice or ethics questions are welcome to mail them to Ray Chopiuk, P.Eng., Director, Professional Practice, APEGGA, 1500 Scotia One, 10060 Jasper AVE NW, Edmonton, AB T5J 4A2; fax them to 780-426-1877; or e-mail them to rchopiuk@apega.ca. |
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Q Can a professional engineer or geoscientist establish a professional corporation, similar to the professional corporations set up by doctors and lawyers?
A The governing statute for such matters is the Business Corporations Act. In Alberta, an engineer or a geo-scientist is not able to form a professional corporation. A professional corporation is a corporation specifically formed for one of a list of professions. These are
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Law
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Medicine
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Dentistry
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Optometry
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Chiropractic
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Chartered Accountant
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Certified Management Accountant
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Certified General Accountant.
One of the things that someone wanting to form a professional corporation must do is submit to Corporate Registry an approval of the articles of incorporation by the governing body of the appropriate profession or occupation. While the acts regulating the practice of the above professions provide for their governing bodies to do that, the Engineering, Geological and Geophysical Professions Act does not contain a similar provision for APEGGA regarding the professions of engineering, geology or geophysics.
However, it is possible for someone to form a limited corporation (company) to engage in the practice of engineering, geology or geophysics. Before the company can engage in such practice, it must obtain a permit from APEGGA. Currently, there are just over 4,000 entities holding permits to practice. Additional information about the requirements for obtaining a permit can be found on APEGGA’s website, www.apega.ca. From the home page, click on Applicants in the grey bar along the top, and drop down to Permits to Practice.
Q Is my Ontario engineer’s seal accepted in Alberta?
A The answer to your question is not a simple “yes” or “no” because it depends on a number of factors. First, if you are actually in Alberta, practicing in Alberta, you are required to be licensed with APEGGA and are required to apply your Alberta engineer’s seal (or stamp) to your professional documents in accordance with Alberta’s Engineering, Geological and Geophysical Professions Act. In this situation, your Ontario seal would not be accepted.
However, let’s assume that you are not working in Alberta but are, in fact, practicing in Ontario. In that situation, the answer depends on specifically what engineering services you will be providing to someone in Alberta.
Alberta has countless legislated requirements (acts, regulations, codes, standards, etc.) for the involvement and seals of APEGGA-licensed engineers exclusively. In such cases, your Ontario seal would not be accepted. These requirements apply regardless of where an engineer is located.
However, some of those statutes also accept the seals of professional engineers from other provinces. While APEGGA administers the EGGP Act, it does not administer any other statutes. Questions concerning whether or not a particular activity, process or thing is governed by Alberta legislation can best be resolved by consulting the relevant authority that administers the legislation.
APEGGA has just published a new guideline entitled Determining the Need for Professional Involvement in Outsourced Engineering. It deals with other issues that are related to your question. You can find the document on APEGGA’s website, www.apega.ca, under Fast Find, Publications, Guidelines. Scroll down to number 36 on the list of guidelines.
Incidentally, the principles concerning acceptability of seals belonging to out-of-province engineers apply to geologists and geophysicists as well.
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