P.Eng.'s and P.Geo.'s Named Under New BC-Alberta Agreement
On April 28, 2006 BC and Alberta signed the British Columbia-Alberta Trade, Investment and Labour Mobility Agreement (TILMA) at the 4th annual joint BC-Alberta Cabinet meeting in Edmonton, creating the second largest economic region in Canada.
The agreement enhances labour mobility by recognizing occupational certifications of workers in both provinces. Both engineers and geoscientists are named as occupations that need to comply with the agreement by April 2009. The good news is that, under existing Inter-Association Mobility Agreements (one for engineers and one for geoscientists), APEGBC is already compliant with TILMA.
Recent changes approved by Council for the mobility of geoscientists entering BC—making it possible for a member in good standing in one association to transfer into BC within a week—fit well with TILMA requirements. Work on a proposed national member database is expected to reduce the transfer time to one or two days.
In addition the BC Struct.Eng. designation, which requires additional experience beyond a P.Eng., is allowed under TILMA as a specialization.
Note that TILMA does not remove the requirement to be registered in the province (or provinces) in which a member works; practice in both Alberta and BC requires registration in both provinces.
More details on TILMA are at: www.gov.bc.ca/ecdev/popt/media_room/bc_ab_trade_investment_mobility_agreement.htm.