Democracy -- Council to prescribe all fees without member confirmation

[for review of PE Act changes 26 Feb Council meeting]
"Provide the authority for Council to prescribe all fees without recourse to regulation or bylaw confirmation processes." [C-460-2.3 Appendix A-6]

This proposal bypasses the need to have regulation changes approved by the government and by-laws confirmed by the members. This will make it much easier to raise funds as and when required.

Democracy -- Disqualify individual Council members

[for review of PE Act changes 26 Feb Council meeting]
Proposal: "Provide the ability for Council to prescribe the conditions to disqualify any members from sitting on the [sic] Council." [C-460-2.3 Appendix A-5] Rational: Council wants the authority to disqualify all members, including Lieutenant Government Appointees from sitting on Council for reasons like preparation, attendance, behaviour, and decorum.

After disqualifying an elected councillor or LGA, the vacancy can be filled by appointing a more agreeable person.

Democracy -- Remove need to have members confirm bylaw changes

[for review of PE Act changes 26 Feb Council meeting]
"Remove the requirement for members to confirmation [sic] all Council approved bylaws." [C-460-2.3 Appendix A-6]

"Council has had bylaw amendments it has passed not confirmed by members" in the past. Removing members from this process will streamline the process and save money.

Democracy -- Removal of elected members of Council

[for decision: 25/26 Feb Council meeting]
The proposal from the Executive Committee is to provide for removal of member elected representatives from Council for many reasons, including "irreconcilable differences" and behaviour. [C-460-1.2 Appendix A-3]

Democracy -- Unelected President

[for decision: 25/26 Feb Council meeting]
The Executive Committee proposes to change the current practice of a President elected by the members to an appointed President. [C-460-1.2 Appendix A-2]

It appears that members cannot be trusted to choose the right person for the job.

Does PEO function in a democratic manner?

[Question by reader]
An excellent question, because it goes to the core of PEO's culture. Most of us simply assume that PEO is a democratic organization.

And why not; we are used to living in a society that recognizes and values the benefits of a lively democracy, especially when compared to the alternatives. It seems only right and proper that PEO should be democratic too. Consider the following and judge for yourself.

• A representative democratic governance model is based upon equality. Every member should have equal influence/power. "One man, one vote."
  PEO's model on the other hand gives members who live in certain locations EIGHT times the voting power in PEO Council compared with East Central Region. Where political power lies, money follows.
• In 2007 and 2008 I tried to observe PEO's vote counting process. PEO's staff placed me at one corner of the room, while the "action" occurred at the other end of the room. Over the years, PEO's staff consistently prevented many independent observers from:
• Viewing any ballot
• Observing the mark on any ballot
• Knowing the tally of the ballots
• Verifying the security of the ballots
I asked permission to take a picture of the room, but I was prohibited from doing so.
• PEO’s 2009 voting rate was less than 15%. The figures from other years are similar. To place this number in context, there are third world countries that exceed this voting rate, with their first tentative experiments in democracy, after several lifetimes of absolute rulers. The question naturally arises, how can PEO legitimately claim to be a self-regulating organization?

This is serious business; engineers should know what PEO does in their name.

Has PEO kept up with the evolution of engineering?

The accelerating pace of technological advancement has changed the face of engineering. Most engineering graduates say that they do not need a licence to practice. Is this a reason that fewer than one in five current engineering graduates become members?

All good engineers should be licenced.

Why do fewer than one in five engineers vote?

In PEO Council, a member’s representation in some regions is worth eight times that of a similar member who lives in the East Central region. An unbalanced system cannot reflect a true view of the profession. Why does PEO not have a democratic system that provides fair and equal representation for all members?

How can PEO call itself self-regulating when fewer than one in five engineers vote? I look upon this as a failure of PEO to productively engage our members.

I would really like to see an improvement in our sub-15% voting rate.
If members views were taken seriously, they would be more involved. I would like to see the "self" be put back into "self-regulation".

Does your employer value your licence?

It is impossible to imagine the College of Physicians and Surgeons tolerating an unlicensed doctor performing medical procedures. Yet this is the everyday situation in Ontario, where non-engineers do engineering work under the “industrial and supervisory exception”.

If you notice, PEO election candidates campaign year after year on this issue, but why has nothing ever been done?

Do I receive full value for my P.Eng. licence?

PEO has recently bought a multi-million building across the street, and will pay more for renovations.

Would you like to have any say in major expenditures, or are you happy to top up the pot whenever needed?

Did you know that:
PEO has just increased all (except basic member) fees by a flat 10%?
OCEPP is looking for future funding to the tune of $2,500,000 per year?

How many engineers go on to become Professional Engineers?

[Question by Predictor Enigner]

Only one in five engineering graduates join PEO. Not exactly a sign of a healthy profession. PEO has tried to encourage new applications by removing the application fee.

Predictably, this offer has increased first time applications. For many EIT's I know, once they realize what they get in return, they their memberships laspe. The reason is quite simple, they do not see much value in the EIT program. Once we lose them, they are less likely to come back.

The lack of uptake of graduate engineers is just a symptom of a deeper problem. The real "PROBLEM" continues.

Then, there are the foreign trained engineers -- they have a more difficult time and many do not even bother to apply for licensure.

Limiting consecutive terms of PEO offices

A member (out of 70,000+ members) placed a motion on the PEO's 2009 AGM agenda. It proposed limiting the consecutive terms of elected offices.

What do you see as the advantages and disadvantages of this motion?

[2009-05-29] At the AGM, this motion passed.
It was placed on the June Council agenda to refer it to the Executive committee to make recommendations for the September 2009 Council meeting.

[2010-01-30 I have no idea where this issue is at now]

[2010-02-16] [for decision: 25/26 Feb Council meeting] If the recommendation by the Executive Committee to have an unelected President is defeated, then the Executive Committee proposes "restricting a President directly by the members to a single term." [C-460-1.2 Appendix A-4]

"Considerations for discussion. That the regulations be revised to limit an individual from holding the same Council position (i.e. Vice-President, Councillor at Large, and Regional Councillors) for more than two consecutive terms." Why is the position of President missing from this list?

Destruction of ballots

One item on the Council agenda after the AGM [2009-05-09] is the destruction of the ballots from the last election. Do you have any outstanding issues from the last election whose resolution could be affected by this motion?

2009-05-09 - Council meeting #456

The next meeting of Council is after the AGM on 9th of May. Traditionally, there is little of substance discussed at this meeting where many chapter members are able to observe.

As a side note, the agenda as published on PEO's website is for the AGM and not for the Council meeting.

A place to have your say

What issues would you like to see discussed on this blog?
Add your suggestions as a comment to this post.