Watershed in ACEC history reached at Niagara Falls
June 1, 2000
By
Canadian Consulting Engineer
Members voted in favour of adopting a bold new direction for ACEC at its 76th National Convention in Niagara Falls in May, when the association changed its eligibility requirements for membership. AC...
Members voted in favour of adopting a bold new direction for ACEC at its 76th National Convention in Niagara Falls in May, when the association changed its eligibility requirements for membership.
ACEC’s by-laws stipulated that member firms must be Canadian owned to qualify for membership. This requirement no longer reflects business realities and would result in a number of existing members not qualifying for membership if the by-laws were to be strictly enforced. The Annual Meeting voted to remove ownership as a requirement of membership.
ACEC’s by-laws require member firms to be managed by individuals who are registered professional engineers (P.Eng.). Given the diversity of services being offered by member firms in today’s market, the Annual Meeting voted to remove this requirement from the by-laws because it neither reflects the reality of many existing members nor does it anticipate the general direction of our industry in the future.
The by-laws did not allow subsidiary firms of foreign parents to be eligible for membership. The Annual Meeting also voted to remove this stipulation.
At last year’s Annual Meeting in New Brunswick, members agreed to modify the by-laws to allow the presence of individuals who are not registered professional engineers as sitting members of the ACEC Board of Directors.
ACEC holds to the belief that a majority of members of the ACEC Board shall be registered professional engineers, that the Chair of ACEC shall be a professional engineer, and that all Board members must reside in Canada.
New definition of member firm
To capture the direction of our industry, the Annual Meeting also approved a change in the definition of a member firm. In drafting the change, ACEC borrowed from FIDIC’s new definition, modified it slightly, and resolved the following:
“ACEC is the Association that represents the consulting industry that supplies engineering and other technology-based intellectual services to the built and natural environment.”
