President’s Message
2009/2010 Council plans and objectives Ian Duncan, PQS ith only four council meetings for the year, it is tough to get projects completed in a one year term as president. To initiate this, we have got off to a flying start by getting the two major committees active right from the first meeting. These committees are addressing the major topics of staffing head office and website review. The mandate is to try and complete the analyses of the issues and put recommendations to council no later than the spring session. Other topics we are going to address this year are as follows: Over the past few years, we have identified a gap in our skill sets which is in the area of Heavy Civils. There are lots of opportunities in mining, oil and other industrial applications as well as pure civil engineering projects such as roads, bridges, dams and marine work especially with the recent thrusts in infrastructure projects. These projects need accurate estimating and cost control which the PQS should be engaged in but requires some special skills not covered under our current educational syllabus. Roy Lewis is heading up the research into bringing this new category to the Institute with the help of our education administrator David Lai. Roger Ward from Alberta has also agreed to participate. Following Ontario’s lead, I have asked the affiliates to try setting up student chapters; especially at BCIT (British Columbia Institute of Technology), Red River, NAIT and SAIT. The aim is to begin a recruitment
campaign going through the colleges. We need to increase student membership across Canada for sustainable growth. QSBC has been proactive in providing both academic and financial support to BCIT’s new degree program in Quantity Surveying which is currently under development. It was suggested that we should be putting more emphasis on working through the high schools. I look forward to seeing someone come forward to take up this initiative. A question I put to council at the last meeting, and one that I would invite comment from the membership, concerns the education level of PQS. Should we be reconsidering increasing education standards? Council generally agreed that we should review our syllabus with a view to making necessary changes to improve standards. It was noted however, and evident from our reciprocity agreements, that we are generally in line with our international partners from an education point of view, which are generally at degree level. Our syllabus fully covers all the technical aspects of a degree program but the difference is we do not cover the non technical subjects which are normally part of any degree course at university. Still on education and one of our principle raisons d’être, some of our CIQS reference books need updating. This includes Construction Law which is back on target to be completed this year. The other book is the Method of Measurement which members of council believe could be restructured to better reflect the needs of the in-
dustry. We are looking for volunteers from membership to review the MOM and already have members from BC looking at it. Please call Lois if you are prepared to get involved or can recommend any improvements. James Vermeulen has been rewriting and updating the CIQS booklet Recommended Fees Scale. He has circulated QS practices across the country and the document he is producing is a consensus and reflection of the opinions from all those who gave feedback. James has committed to the Institute that this document will be completed by December 2009 and we are aiming to publish in the New Year. In addition to increasing youth membership, Council agrees that it is time to draw on experience. We have about 70 fellows and quite a few of those potentially with time on their hands. What we would like to do is to recruit their assistance with time consuming tasks such as CDP evaluation or special projects such as the 50th Anniversary book which Colin Randall Smith tackled almost single-handedly (except for Lois). This help is especially relevant on projects that span more than one year such as a major book rewrite. Sustainability comes from both directions. The new generation has to rely on the wisdom of its predecessors and learn not to make the same mistakes made in the past. I am sure we all have one or two people who acted as our mentors to help put us where we are currently. We must never underestimate the value of experience.
Notice of correction: In the Summer 2009 issue of Construction Economist, we congratulated five new Fellows that were appointed this year. Roger Ward from Alberta was appointed a Fellow (not Doug Eastwell as reported). Our sincerest apologies go out to Mr. Ward for this error. Mr. Eastwell was in fact appointed a Fellow in 2006 and received the Award of Merit this year.
4 | Construction Economist | www.ciqs.org | FALL 2009
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