History of the Professional Governance Act

We have been working towards new legislation for a very long time. Below is a summary of the path we have taken to get to where we are now, with the Professional Governance Act on the horizon.

1982

Architects Act was amended to include Licensed Interior Designers. This legislation has guided the work of the AAA for more than 40 years.

2012 – 2014

The Ministry of Labour (the Ministry charged with oversight of the Architects Act) approached AAA about starting the process for updates to our governing legislation. The Council and Administration of AAA welcomed this opportunity to move towards more modern legislation. Significant resources, time and energy were invested into this project.

An external consultant was hired for member engagement and communications to ascertain the goals and opinions of AAA members.

A formal Legislation Committee was established, with several working task forces feeding into the oversight committee.

The task forces working to outline the future for AAA were:

• Practice Review Task Force
• Professional Liability Insurance Task Force
• Title, Scope and Allied Profession Task Force
• Practice Entities Task Force
• Complaints Task Force

Following extensive engagement with AAA membership including in-person town hall sessions and member surveys, a set of 13 guiding principles was put to a vote.

These guiding principles had been developed through the contribution of many volunteer hours on the Legislation Committee and the task forces. Twelve of the thirteen principles received majority support. The only principle that was not supported was for discipline hearings to be open to the public.

2015 – 2018

The association worked with the senior staff within the Ministry of Labour on the development of policy documents that would outline the difference between our old (1982) legislation and what updated legislation should look like. The 13 guiding principles and the work of the task forces heavily informed this work. This work was slow and laborious. The Ministry was working with several other professions at the same time, and the Architects Act was not first in line. There were staffing challenges within the Ministry that made it difficult for them to dedicate the time required to move things along as quickly as we would have liked. Some leadership changes added a layer of complexity.

It is also worth noting that during this time there was turmoil within the political landscape as the long-standing Conservative majority lost to the NDPs under Rachel Notley in 2015. Such a significant change in government led to a review of ALL priorities, and legislative updates for professional regulatory bodies did not escape this review. Control of the Alberta Legislature was returned to the UCP in the spring of 2019, which in turn led to review of priorities set by their recent predecessors. Government and leadership changes have a way of putting work on pause.

2019

A task force came together in 2018 in response to concerns expressed about the lack of specific perspective on matters that would concern the Licensed Interior Design (LID) membership of the AAA. Each of the other Legislation Review Task Forces had included a LID member for that perspective, but it was acknowledged that an overall LID view of the legislation had not been sought.

The newly created Licensed Interior Design Legislation Task Force began their work in 2018 and submitted a report in November 2019. A series of recommendations was prepared, and stakeholder consultations followed to test the recommendations. This work has influenced conversations with the Ministry as we go forward.

2021

In early 2021 the Ministry of Labour began to explore the option of using umbrella legislation to bring multiple regulatory organizations under one Act. One of the catalysts for this was the government’s embrace of a campaign for “red tape reduction” that led to new ways of looking at how government works with the private sector. In their desire to streamline legislation, a new model that would ultimately bring 22 professions under one set of legislation was initiated.

2022

Under the leadership of Minister Kaycee Madu, Minister of Labour and Immigration, the Professional Governance Act was introduced in the Alberta Legislature as Bill 23. This Bill received considerable interest from the opposition as well as the professional regulatory bodies. It passed first and second reading but did not get through third reading before the spring session of legislature was adjourned for the season.

The reason for this early adjournment was the UCP leadership race to find a replacement for Premier Kenney who indicated his intent to step down pending the selection of a new leader. This ultimately led to the October election of Danielle Smith as the new UCP leader.

Premier Smith has subsequently re-aligned the ministries and professional regulatory legislation is now under the auspices of the Ministry of Advanced Education.
In the midst of this realignment of leadership, the Professional Governance Act waited for new direction.

2023

In December 2023, the Ministry of Advanced Education met with the professional regulatory organizations to inform us that the completion of the Professional Governance Act continues to be a priority mandate and that a process for moving forward would be forthcoming.

2024

The Ministry has had several plenary meetings with the 22 professions to be included under the revitalized Professional Governance Act. The timeline for the introduction of the new bill (not yet numbered) in the legislature has been adjusted from the optimistic Fall 2024 timeline to a more realistic date of Spring 2025, coming into effect in the Fall of 2025.

Through the plenary sessions with the regulators, the Ministry has helped us understand how the Professional Governance Act is likely to look, and what the General Regulation will cover. We have yet to have 1:1 meetings with the Ministry around the Schedule that will be unique to the AAA. Those meetings are anticipated to take place late this year.

It is important to note that the Ministry has made it very clear that in order to get the Professional Governance Act, General Regulation and Schedules through in a timely manner, there will be very minimal opportunity to make substantive policy changes. Bringing nine pieces of legislation (governing 22 professions) together will require significant effort and this will not allow for customization in any significant manner for each profession.

Despite this, the AAA can anticipate seeing some welcome changes as modern elements that already exist in other legislation will be incorporated into the Professional Governance Act and we will benefit from these. The nature of the new legislation is such that it will be considerably easier to update once it is in place. The Schedule specific to the AAA can be more easily updated once it is in place. This is where some of the very important nuance will be addressed.

Next steps

A bylaw template that can serve as a starting point has been shared, along with a flow chart that seeks to explain the discipline process under new legislation. These rough working documents continue to be in flux as the Ministry works on drafting the actual legislation.

From time to time the Ministry has consulted with the professions on particulars such as how we each define “lack of capacity” and if we have a process established. Such consultations will impact all professions equally.