People’s Party candidate must stop using ‘engineer,’ B.C. Supreme Court rules
People’s Party candidate must stop using ‘engineer,’ B.C. Supreme Court rules
www.winnipegfreepress.com
People's Party candidate must stop using 'engineer,' B.C. Supreme Court rules
In Canada that term is a legal title, like Doctor. If Americans started using that term willy-nilly, I don't think we should have to adjust our legislation.
Yea this is a murky area, there are things that are clearly acts of engineering namely civil engineering projects bridges, factories, etc., that fit very well with the way the title of engineer is sanctioned province by province.
It gets murky for me with transportation things, here I still believe they should be scanctioned engineers but I don't feel the provinces are the best ones to mandate who should be a licensed engineer for something that travels at 700 kph across the country, I think that's more a national level interest.
Messing things further is in other countries there isn't a special meaning to the word engineer and it's missused in our sense of context. The title is tossed around in some places for things like sanitation engineer and software engineer, where what these folks are doing is clearly not acts of engineering but the title is given In lieu of increased pay.
Electrical engineering is smack dab in the grey area if it was work on a big power plant sure traditional act of engineering. Designing firmware for a mass produced widget may not be. But if the job is being advertised in the US they'd both be looking for an electrical engineer. And a lazy hr person here may be looking for an EE in Canada skipping over candidates that don't have the certificate from the provincial engineering body but can do the job as good or if not better.
Again this confusion is avoided if everyone knows Engineer is a very loaded word and need a to be handled with care in the confines of Canada, but we as Canadians need to understand others don't give the same care to this word.
The PPC guy is probably playing this up to get him free publicity at this point as he should be painfully aware of this from his undergraduate courses beating it into I his skull.
That said it's not a bad idea to examine the details to see if updates can be made to definitions in the provincial acts so engineers can better serve the public and we can avoid policing the use unnecessarily. I also think we should have a federal level dealing with acts of engineering that normally cross provincial boarders
Argh way to long winded owell enjoy the wall of text
Actually, the US has screwed up titles just a little bit more as well, but in reverse! While "Esquire" is a courtesy title in the UK, and can be used the same way in Canada, there are specific individuals that might use Esquire in Commonwealth countries in place of Mister based on position or status. In the USA, lawyers have started using "Esquire" meaning 'passed the bar in their state.'
It's province specific. Professional Engineer is across the board, but provinces like NS don't protect a simple engineer title. There's a lot of grey area around software engineering in places like AB, since APEGA doesn't license software engineers, yet it's a globally recognized title.
You're right that the term is used widely, but as the judge noted, it shouldn't be, since it has a legal meaning.
If only there was a professional kind of designation that would separate the engineers by profession from just engineers by function.
They should call it a professional engineer. And have a ring or something to show they're special. They need to show they've done the actual engineering work and the thesis to boot.
They do, you say?
So they DO distinguish already between Professional Engineers and engineers. So it's just a matter of him not paying dues? Like a cheesy license fee?
Fuck these leeches.
I wonder what the guy who drives a train engine is going to be called, now.