OSPE Election

I am running for election as a director of the Ontario Society of Professional Engineers and I have organized this website.  Any Professional Engineer who belongs to OSPE can vote until April 23, 2012.  For my complete platform, see the OSPE website and look for Election of Directors, and Candidate Profiles.    I ask for your vote in this upcoming election.  My mission is real, no-nonsense activism for real engineers in Ontario.           Ray Givens, P.Eng.

The facts:

• In Ontario, in 2009 (the most recent data available) 3163 engineers graduated from Ontario universities.  In the same year, 2517 immigrant engineers arrived in the province. Source: Engineers Canada
• Even now, during this recession, engineers are entering Canada and Ontario in numbers that are no less than before the recession.
• More and more engineers are turning away from the profession in spite of the huge investment in education.  Now, only half of all domestically- educated engineers work in either engineering or management.  Only 30% if immigrant engineers work in engineering or management. Source: PEO President David Adams in Engineering Dimensions
• Young engineers are finding it more and more difficult to find work doing real engineering alongside experienced engineers.  Only 28%  of engineers in Ontario actually achieve P.Eng. Status (Source: PEO President David Adams in Engineering Dimensions).

This is what engineers have said about the numbers of immigrant engineers entering the province: 

Bringing in thousands of engineers from outside the country in this recession who will compete with Canadian engineers for scarce jobs is the height of mismanagement.  It is time that the Ontario Society of Professional Engineers went to Ottawa to demand a change.  Ray Givens, P. Eng., London, Ont.

I recently lost my job, and this makes it difficult for me to pursue my P.Eng status.  I am amazed so many engineers have been brought in to the province during a recession.  With innovation becoming more and more important to the economy, key innovators like engineers, both domestic and new immigrants alike,  face low wages and consistently temporary job status.   Robin Dekaban, EIT,  Ilderton, Ont.

Professional engineers are increasingly being forced to seek employment outside the engineering profession, due to a general lack of value placed on their skills. This can only be exacerbated by an oversupply of engineers. We all should play a role in ensuring that our domestically trained engineers get employment in career fulfilling roles, first.  Rob Brunet, P.Eng., London, Ont.

Immigration of engineers during a recession means more Canadian Engineers out of work, replaced by foreign engineers at two-thirds the salary.  This is a net drain on our economy, and doesn’t serve Canada as a whole, only the interests of big business.  Paul Givens, P.Eng., Edmonton, Alberta

The medical profession has successfully resisted immigration of doctors when a shortage of doctors existed. The OSPE should resist immigration of engineers when clearly there is no shortage of engineers. OSPE’s argument that immigration is a federal issue and they are a provincial organization is weak. OSPE is in place to advance the interests of Engineers period — not limited to matters regarding provincial gov’t. To justify importing 80 immigrant Engineers for every 100 Engineers graduating from a Canadian university, the onus should be on the federal gov’t and OSPE to prove that there is an undersupply of Engineers. Glenn Givens, P.Eng., Burlington, Ont.

I graduated a little over 20 years ago but quickly realized that you’re not going to make a great salary doing engineering.  I stuck with engineering for about 10 years before moving into intellectual property, which is what I do today. It is nothing less than a travesty that our profession is in the state that it is in. I agree that in today’s reality a glut of immigrant engineers would be a problem when there aren’t enough positions here even for our own graduates, and the government should consider the professions of the immigrants when approving their applications. You have my full support that as a profession we need to get the Canadian government’s attention on this issue.  Jay Millman, P.Eng., Toronto, Ont.

Something has to be done about the state of engineering in Canada.  Engineers are often relied upon to be the smartest individuals in the room, yet how smart of a decision is it to become an engineer if the compensation is low, the opportunity in Canada low, and the cost of education high?  The large influx of foreign trained engineers lowers the starting wages for the young engineer and veteran alike, discouraging the brightest individuals from pursuing a career in engineering. Let us all work together to make Canada a better place for a career in engineering.    Michael Adamovsky, EIT, London, Ontario
I am glad to see that you are discussing a topic that seems to be under the radar for most engineers. I started in the workforce in 1990 and even at that time it was difficult to get an engineering position.  I cannot imagine how it is for the recent engineering graduates.  Seeing the statistics that you present it seems quite clear that there is a major disconnect between our available engineering jobs in this country and the vast amount of people hunting for these jobs. It is very hard to recommend an engineering profession over other professions when talking to young people nowadays –how sad.   Frank Stanisic, P.Eng., Aurora, Ont.

But I’m an immigrant engineer…..

Immigrant engineers already in Canada deserve quality careers too!  We’re appealing to Canadian-born and immigrant engineers alike to speak up to protect our profession.  We all have an interest in improving the employment prospects for engineers in Ontario.  And, we all have a duty to create an environment where young engineers graduating today have realistic chances of having rewarding careers in engineering.

Here’s what you can do:

Who says that change is impossible?  If enough engineers want change, change will happen.  Have your say, and join a growing group of  engineers –Canadian-born and immigrant alike–who are demanding that OSPE take up the cause.

We don’t want your money, or your time!  We’d like you to leave a comment though (see “Leave a Comment” at the top of the page) to  let people know how you feel.  We won’t display your contact info, just your name and your comment.

And, you can let one of the directors at OSPE (Ontario Society of Professional Engineers) know how you feel.  Go to OSPE on the net and follow the “Contact Us” lead.

Tell your friends about EngineersFirst.ca and ask them to get involved by adding ther name and comment.

Course of Action

We engineers, in OSPE and PEO, have talked for decades about raising the profile of engineers, about improving salary and employment prospects.   Yet the greatest impediment to improving the lot of engineers is the massive oversupply of engineers.

We are proposing that OSPE make a presentation to Jason Kenney, Minister of Immigration and Multiculturalism, for the purpose of requesting that  the number of immigrant engineers allowed into the province (and into Canada) be reduced substantially.

Minister Jason Kenney has already agreed that, should OSPE request a meeting on this topic, he or his staff would be willing to listen.

We understand that the task we are proposing will require a significant sea-change in the way we look at our profession and our role at OSPE.    We also believe that reducing the supply of engineers will produce more benefit to the thousands of engineers in this province –Canadian-born and immigrant alike —than all other initiatives put forward by OSPE in the last 10 years combined.