×
INTELLIGENT WORK FORUMS
FOR ENGINEERING PROFESSIONALS

Log In

Come Join Us!

Are you an
Engineering professional?
Join Eng-Tips Forums!
  • Talk With Other Members
  • Be Notified Of Responses
    To Your Posts
  • Keyword Search
  • One-Click Access To Your
    Favorite Forums
  • Automated Signatures
    On Your Posts
  • Best Of All, It's Free!
  • Students Click Here

*Eng-Tips's functionality depends on members receiving e-mail. By joining you are opting in to receive e-mail.

Posting Guidelines

Promoting, selling, recruiting, coursework and thesis posting is forbidden.

Students Click Here

Jobs

Registered Professional Engineer in CANADA??

Registered Professional Engineer in CANADA??

Registered Professional Engineer in CANADA??

(OP)
I am a registered professional engineer in US.  I am thinking about moving to CANADA.  Do I need to take the CANADIAN Professional Engineering test or can I just fill out paperwork?

RE: Registered Professional Engineer in CANADA??

In Canada, the Engineering profession is regulated provinically, and there is no one exam for all of Canada.

Depending on the province in which you intend to practice, you may be required to pass an exam covering the ethical practice of engineers.  In addition, you will need to provide academic qualifications and experience.

I would recommend contacting the Engineering Proffessional Organization for the province in which you would like to practice.  They should be able to tell you exactly what you will need to provide.

RE: Registered Professional Engineer in CANADA??

(OP)
It is interesting that there is no technical exam required.  Does it mean it is easier to obtain engineering license as long as you pass the ethic test, provide a diploma and show your engineering working experiences. Thanks for you input.  I'll check with the Engineering organization for the province.

RE: Registered Professional Engineer in CANADA??

OKGeo....A friend of mine was a Professor at McMaster University in Canada.  He earned a PhD. and was a practicing consulting engineer (still is) in the Toronto area.  

Being a US engineer who went through the entire US process, I asked why they use the process they do in Canada.  His reply was that if you were able to graduate with a degree in engineering from one of their engineering school, you had proved your analytical ability.  The only left to prove was whether you had the ethical mindset to practice engineering, thus the ethics exam.  I good naturedly accused him of academic elitism.

While that process has some plausibility, I am still of the opinion that the internship process in the US is a good one and that practical experience coupled with the academic process is necessary to develop good engineers, a process that takes much longer than 2 years as in Canada or 4 years as in the US.

RE: Registered Professional Engineer in CANADA??

Ron,

Provincial Professional Associations now require a minimum of 4 years of experience before being eligible for licensure as a professional engineer in Canada.  

Also, the checks and balances in place are extensive.  Numerous reference checks are required, as well as a good detail of work experience obtained in the past.  Academic history and standing is also taken into account.  I would use caution in accusing the Canadian system as one of academic elitism.

RE: Registered Professional Engineer in CANADA??

Dirtguy4587 - notice that Ron said this good naturedly to a friend.  We always rib friends that way - at least my friends and I do/would. I happen to be licensed in both Canada and US.  There is pluses and minuses on both sides - I just wished that there would be one across Canada licensure and one across US licensure like Chartered Engineer in UK so that we didn't/don't have to have some 10 to 12 different licensings.  See the Forum "How to Improve Myself to Get aAhead in My Work" - it is this one that has had many threads on this particular subject.

RE: Registered Professional Engineer in CANADA??

Please don't let this thread degenerate into a PE vs PEng thing.  It goes on forever and solicts all kind of weird stuff.

Steve Braune
Tank Industry Consultants
www.tankindustry.com

RE: Registered Professional Engineer in CANADA??

Very good point BigH, where do I sign to lobby for common PEng across Canada

RE: Registered Professional Engineer in CANADA??

Wished I knew - if you go to your association and ask, they will circle the wagons; turf to protect.  It makes more sense to me to have a uniform licensing with special caveat add-ons for particularly unique areas (e.g., permafrost in Alaska or Northwest Territories; seismic in California; hurricane/strong wind in Florida area; expansive soils in Texas, etc.) And the caveats wouldn't preclude practicing in those states - only that if you don't have one, then someone holding such a caveat would be needed in specific aspects of the design.
  Perhaps this is something that ASCE (USA) and other counterparts (e.g. ASME) and ACEC (Canada) might take up as they cover the whole of their respective countries.

RE: Registered Professional Engineer in CANADA??

Certainly there is a need for "national status" for US and Canadian engineers who work overseas.  In Canada (Ontario in particular) there is a move to divorce licence regulation from member services, somewhat as exists in US but retaining licensure under self-government rather than political domination.  In Canada there is the Canadian Council of Professional Engineers http://www.ccpe.ca/ rather like the NSPE in US. Both US and Canada lack an equivalent to the UK Chartered Engineer, Euro Ing, or other International Body.  P.Eng in Canada is more like UK "incorporated engineer"

Red Flag This Post

Please let us know here why this post is inappropriate. Reasons such as off-topic, duplicates, flames, illegal, vulgar, or students posting their homework.

Red Flag Submitted

Thank you for helping keep Eng-Tips Forums free from inappropriate posts.
The Eng-Tips staff will check this out and take appropriate action.

Reply To This Thread

Posting in the Eng-Tips forums is a member-only feature.

Click Here to join Eng-Tips and talk with other members!


Resources