LEGISLATIVE REVIEW
previous consultations and cover: • refining the Continuing Professional Development program • investigator authority • authority of practice reviewers • Enforcement Review Committee • mediated settlements • consent orders • obligation to comply and cooperate • establishing timeframes for notices • membership categories for Provisional Licensee, Restricted Practitioners, and University Students APEGA also held separate consultation sessions with Professional Geoscientists to discuss proposed changes to the definition of geoscience, changes to the description of geoscience work products, and changes to geoscience exemptions. These changes will help us better protect the public interest
by reflecting current practice areas and advances in technology. As we’ve done following all our con- sultation sessions, we’ll publish a We’re Listening report summarizing the feedback we’ve gathered. The report will be posted online at apegalegislativereview.ca by December 21. APEGA Council will endorse or amend the proposed recommendations in the report at a special meeting in late January. GET INVOLVED: FINAL MEMBER CONSULTATION IS SET FOR THIS SPRING We’ve been working on the legislative review for more than two years now and will take until the spring of 2019 to complete it. The EGP Act hasn’t had a major update in over 30 years, so we’re working with the Government of Alberta to ensure the legislation continues
to protect the public interest and reflect current business practices. So far, APEGA Council has endorsed more than 60 recommended changes to the Act. Because the Act is provincial legisla- tion, the endorsed recommendations have been forwarded to the government for its consideration. Throughout the review process, we’ve been consulting Members, Permit Holders and other stakeholders in stages. The fifth and final round of consultations is planned for May, so there’s still time to get involved. To date, more than 5,000 APEGA Mem- bers and Permit Holders have helped shape the future of the professions by taking part in the legislative review process.
Questions or comments? legislative-review@apega.ca
Discipline and appeal panels of three or more Members should include public members selected from a roster.
issue to the discipline process, if it is in the public interest to do so. We’re also proposing changes to consent orders to clarify how and when they can be used. OBLIGATION TO COMPLY AND COOPERATE This recommendation makes it clear that Members and Permit Holders are expected to comply with the Act, Regulations, and Bylaws, along with practice standards. ESTABLISHING TIMEFRAMES FOR NOTICES This recommendation makes APEGA a more transparent regulator by setting timeframes for when APEGA needs to respond to a complaint and when we need to make sure a hearing takes place. MEMBERSHIP CATEGORY — PROVISIONAL LICENSEE It proposed this designation be removed from the legislation. This would not prevent the 170 Members who currently have this designation from gaining employment, because they could become a Member-in-Training until they have one year of Canadian experience. The term licensee with this designation is misleading to the public. MEMBERSHIP CATEGORIES — RESTRICTED PRACTITIONER AND UNIVERSITY STUDENTS We’re recommending these two categories be removed as we no longer have any Members who are Restricted Practitioners and we do not regulate university students. PROFESSIONAL GEOSCIENCE: CHANGES TO DEFINITION, WORK PRODUCTS AND EXEMPTIONS To better protect the public interest, we’re recommending some changes of the wording related to the definition of the practice of geoscience, type of work products and exemptions, so that the legislation can be updated to reflect current practice areas and advances in technology.
ALLOWING FOR CUSTODIANS OF PRACTICE We’re recommending that the legislation be amended to allow APEGA to apply to the Court of Queen’s Bench for an order appointing a person as a custodian of a Professional Member’s practice in the event of a Member’s incapacity, illness, death, or suspension of registration, so that it may be temporarily managed or, if necessary, dissolved. The custodian of a practice will be a qualified Professional Member. CONTINUING PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT (CPD) PROGRAM This deals with the regulation on the mandatory CPD program. The recommended change is to clean up some of the language and move the requirements for reporting out of the General Regulation and into the policies of the CPD program.
INVESTIGATOR AUTHORITY AND AUTHORITY OF PRACTICE REVIEWERS
This is a continuation of previous consultations, during which Members and Permit Holders requested more details around what the wording could look like related to the authority of these entities. ENFORCEMENT REVIEW COMMITTEE We’re recommending removal of the Enforcement Review Committee from the legislation, because the committee does not need to be specified in the regulation. Work will still be done on compliance because the legislation already explicitly authorizes it. MEDIATED SETTLEMENTS AND CONSENT ORDERS We’re updating these topics based on recommendations from previous consultations. Mediated settlement clarifies that even though there is a settlement agreed to by two parties, the Registrar may forward the
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