mk2000: engineering in Canada was regulated as a profession at different times in different provinces. In Ontario it was officially regulated in the 1920s. A couple of bridges which failed with spectacular loss of life sealed the deal in the other provinces.
The profession was regulated for good reason: to protect the public. For the same reason that lawyers, doctors, chartered accountants etc. were licensed: because the public is in no position to judge the competence of an engineer, and must put blind faith in their ability. Engineering done wrong can be deadly. Judging the competence of an engineer is best done by other engineers.
The provincial Engineering Acts are interpreted to mean that a person who does not have a P.Eng. license is not permitted to use the word "engineer" in their job title in any way which may confuse the public as to their licensure status. However, enforcement is notoriously difficult- basically it relies on engineers seeing others' cards and ratting them out to the authorities. And nobody in the world can stop you from putting "B.A.Sc., mechanical engineering" on your card if you indeed posess such a degree- from a reputable institution or not...
To complicate matters, we're the mouse living next door to the elephant- the USA has extremely limited requirements for licensure in most states, and a general exemption from licensure for almost all engineers working in "industry". That puts an intolerable strain on the maintenance of a formal licensure system in Canada.
In the most populous province in Canada (Ontario), there is a narrow exception from licensure for people doing work of a non-structural nature for their employer on their employer's means of production. I.e. a toolmaker or millwright can do some limited engineering on a cheese packaging line for their own employer- but not for hire for other firms etc. However, this exception is widely misinterpreted, even by some staff at the regulatory body, to be a general exception from licensure for all engineers.
Similarly, we have a Certificate of Authorization program. All firms which advertise the fact that they do professional engineering require a C of A, even if the firm consists of one P.Eng. licensee and no employees. The C of A permits a firm to nominate a signatory licensed professional engineer (i.e. a patsy) to take professional responsibility for all the engineering done by the firm. In fact, this signatory in some cases doesn't even work for the company in question! This C of A system is widely abused, such that one P.Eng. may be put in a position by their employer of taking responsibility for the "engineering" done by large numbers of non-licensed engineers, non-engineers etc. that the firm hires. The only thing the signatory can do if they're not satisfied with the ethics of this particular situation ultimately is to quit the firm.
The fact of the matter remains that virtually nobody needs an engineering license to find engineering employment in Canada. The only person you have to convince of your abilities and credentials is your potential employer. Perhaps this explains why less than 20% of Canadian engineering grads bother to go on to engineering licensure these days. For most engineers, the P.Eng. license is a voluntary title rather than a real license which grants meaningful rights of licensure. Oh yeah- I forgot to mention that it grants you the right to sign, but not charge for, the passports of your friends and neighbours.
The main challenge to Canadian engineering licensure at current is the vast influx of engineering immigrants to Canada in recent years. Engineering immigration grew 12-fold between 1991 and 2001 and has stabilized at a level which amounts to 1.5x as many self-declared engineers immigrating to Canada yearly as we graduate from all of our accredited engineering universities combined. This huge surplus of engineering immigrants further complicates matters by settling primarily in three cities( 55% of the total in Toronto alone). Joblessness and under-employment result. Many in the immigrant community blame their situation on the licensure process, whereas the real problem is one of simple supply and demand.
