REFLECTIONS

By Sheri McLean, CAE

I am very pleased to have been asked to write a historical account of the Association and congratulate ECAA on its 60th anniversary, a testament to the dedication of provincial and chapter presidents, committee chairs, the membership, and staff. Some of the following information has been taken from ECAA’s 40th anniversary history book, which was compiled by Lou Galick and myself as we travelled across the province the summer of 2001 interviewing the founding fathers and early members of the Association for the publication.

Although electrical contractors’ associations have existed for many years in Alberta, there was never an all-embracing provincial association until 1962. The Alberta Electrical Association existed in the early 1920s and included power supply companies, wholesalers, distributors, and electrical contractors; however, this group dissolved in the early 1930s due to lack of interest and support. A local Edmonton association was formed in 1927; others in existence at that time were Northwest, Northeast, Calgary, and Southern Alberta. These groups realized that pooling their resources would be a benefit to all electrical contractors as well as the general public, and that a provincial association with national ties would be the logical way to combine efforts and finances of each local group. On November 29, 1962, the Electrical Contractors Association of Alberta was officially incorporated and registered under the Societies Act of Alberta, complete with constitution, bylaws, and director representation from all the previous local groups. The early days were spent developing direction and goals, and how the Association could best come to grips with problems to the benefit of the electrical contractors, industry, and the membership.

The first annual conference was in 1967. It was established that the Electrical Contractors Association of Alberta is the Provincial Voice of Alberta’s electrical industry to service its individual members, the electrical and construction industry, as well as the general public at large. Founding fathers were Mr. A.T.Wigelsworth (NW), D.W. Maltby (Edmonton), J.P. Robinson (Central), W. Manchakowski (NE), P.D. Raffin (Calgary), J.K. Matthews (Edmonton), J. Merriman (Calgary), R.C. Harris (NE), G. Hammond (Edmonton), E.S. Sunley (Edmonton), W.A. Lawrence (Calgary), J. Bury (Calgary). Mr. Stan Sunley, the man credited with being the driving force behind the formation of the provincial association, served as the first president from 1967-1969 as well as the first Alberta representative on the Canadian Electrical Contractors Association board. Committees at that time were apprenticeship, finance, labour relations, legislation, membership, and publicity. One of the resolutions at that very first annual meeting was investigation into electrical contractors attaining “professional status”.

The Association first grew through the support of the rural chapter presidents informing their members of the benefits an association can provide to the smaller and rural contractors through communication and education. When I joined the ECAA, newly elected membership chairs were Harvey Williamson and Carmen Nicholson – Harvey, a wellrespected contractor, and Carmen, an anomaly in the electrical industry as a female electrical sales manager with Noramco. Harvey, Carmen, and I attended as many tradeshows across the province as ECAA was invited to participate in and shared the benefits of belonging to this organization. Sophie Schmaltz, who eventually became ECAA’s public member, often participated and promoted the Association at tradeshows. Sophie married into an electrical contracting family and was very familiar with the benefits of belonging to the Association. Her husband Perry was both a chapter and provincial president, represented ECAA on the Safety

Codes Council for many years, and their son Paul (the third generation) is now on ECAA’s Board of Directors.

Carmen and I started attending the chapter meetings and calling on both members and non-members as we drove across the province. Often, we were joined by the provincial president. If Carmen saw an electrical van with a nonmember logo, she would quickly put a membership package under the windshield wiper with a note asking the contractor to call for further information. Steve Warholik, a wellliked and respected salesperson in the electrical industry, followed Carmen as Membership Chair and continued the practice of attending chapter meetings, meeting with both members and non-members, and initiating membership drives with chapter presidents. As he was recently retired, he made himself available to the membership at large through his personal cell phone. All three were invaluable membership chairs and along with Sophie, honoured as Award of Merit recipients.

Through Carmen and Steve, ECAA’s associate membership grew. Both were well-known in the electrical industry and could see benefits from the contractors’ perspective and the sales side. The associate members are a vital component of the Association which is recognized by their voting seat on the Provincial Board of Directors and their own Annual General Meeting. They are active convention and industry event sponsors, board or committee participants at the chapter level, and willing meeting or Training Day presenters. Honorary membership in the Association is bestowed on an associate member.

Monetary savings were also a reason to join the ECAA. An early partnership was formed with Federated Insurance who provided a discount on insurance to members and financial support to ECAA through a promotional allowance. Federated Insurance put together the first health insurance package for our membership. George Froese, Gary Borodenko, Wayne Budge, and most recently Reza Kamrani were regular attendees at ECAA functions, the occasional Board meeting, and very often speakers at Training Day or a convention. I was invited many times through my tenure to attend strategic planning sessions with other Association executive directors that Federated partnered with to brainstorm with Federated management and staff to see if benefits could be improved or value added to the associations. Through the years, additional companies approached the Association with discounts to our members (see list of benefits at ecaa.ab.ca), but none have the longstanding partnership Federated Insurance does.

The Professional Electrical Contractor (PEC) program added members to ECAA. On May 12, 1993, ECAA became the first trade association to receive professional recognition in North America, and the PEC designation was born. Both master electricians and young journeypersons signed up as student members for the educational courses being offered with many completing their PEC designation. Being part of the committee who made this designation a reality is one of the outstanding highlights for me, as well as being appointed Registrar under the Professional Electrical Contractor regulation. Throughout the 25+ years, a close professional and personal relationship was maintained with government staff, especially with Adrian Pritchard and Wayne Williams.

Another membership stream was the unionized sector. ECAA became the Registered Employer Organization (REO) and held the bargaining rights with the IBEW. When an electrical contractor became signatory to the Collective Agreement, the company could become a member of ECAA with representatives sitting on the Labour Relations and Negotiation committees. I was very honoured to be recording secretary for ECAA during labour negotiations and thank Art Thormann and Brian Halina for providing me with the opportunity. I consider this one of the most interesting and educational responsibilities I held.

Whenever there was a major industry issue, ECAA travelled across the province to ensure electrical contractors were aware of the issue and the impact it would have on the industry and answer any questions that were raised. In 1996, the Department of Labour proposed a “Recognized Tradesperson” to replace the master electrician program. Meetings were held around the province, 2400 questionnaires were filled out, and information was compiled and personally presented to the Honourable Murray Smith (then Minister of Labour). In 2001, the government proposed changes to the master electrician program. Kelly Morris was Chair of the Master Electrician Committee at this time. No other trade had a master’s designation so why did electrical need one? ECAA had been administering the master’s program for the Department of Labour on contract since 1993. Many meetings were held across the province with both telephone and letter writing campaigns to keep this very important title, which differentiated the journeyperson electrician from one that ran his own business. A number of contractors signed up as