Engineers Canada
Engineers Canada

What were the most-read stories from our Daily Media Report over the past year? We take a look back at the top five.

person reading the newspaper over their facePEO’s regulatory review. A Surrey, BC, condo that failed to meet the building code. A whistleblower at Alberta’s energy regulator. A disciplinary notice. A profile of OIQ’s Kathy Baig. These were the most-read stories from the Engineers Canada Media Report this year. Read on as we take a look back at the top five stories from the engineering world in 2019.

  1. PEO’s regulatory review: In June 2019, PEO released the final report from an independent review of its regulatory performance. The report provided 15 recommendations on how PEO can improve its regulatory performance.
     
  2. Surrey condo fails to meet building code: In a disciplinary decision from Engineers and Geoscientists British Columbia, John Bryson was banned from working in BC after an investigation found his designs for a highrise condo tower in Surrey failed to meet building code standards. CBC News later reported that a second engineer was fined $15,000 and suspended for a month for failing to complete his review of designs for a Surrey highrise that has been found not to meet the building code.
     
  3. Alberta energy regulator whistleblower: Investigations by the Alberta Ethics Commissioner, the province’s auditor general, and the public interest commissioner into the Alberta Energy Regulator (AER) found that former AER CEO Jim Ellis displayed disregard for the proper management of public funds, and that staff described a culture of fear at the AER that deterred employees from speaking up. An anonymous whistleblower eventually did step forward with concerns.
     
  4. Disciplinary notice: The Discipline Committee of Engineers and Geoscientists British Columbia suspended the membership of Ahmed Raza Syed on an interim basis, related to allegations that he did not perform adequate engineering work or analysis prior to installing glass guardrails at properties in Langford, BC.
     
  5. Meet Kathy Baig: On the heels of her winning a Canada’s Top 40 under 40 award in July 2019, the Montreal Gazette published a profile of OIQ President and Engineers Canada Board member Kathy Baig and her work to restore the integrity of the engineering regulator, improving the procedures for recognizing the credentials of foreign-trained engineers, and attracting more women in engineering.