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Minutes of ISA Toronto Dinner Meeting September 28, 2006 - Park Plaza Hotel

Instrumentation Apprenticeship in Ontario: How will the changes affect you.

The ISA Toronto Section held its first members meeting of the year with about 35 people in attendance. The meeting started off with a few glitches as a result in a last minute change in venue when LeBiftheque Steakhouse informed us that they where closing their Airport location and would not be able to accommodate us for our dinner meeting.

Quick action by our Secretary Hank Rasanen enabled us to secure a nearby location at the Park Plaza and the meeting went ahead as scheduled. The room was smaller than expected as we only anticipated 25 people, [fortunately] some people that RSVP’d didn’t show up and we only had to add another table to accommodate everyone.

After a longer than usual delay the food finally came, we ate, we drank and the meeting got underway.  Our section President, Reynold Ramdial started with the opening welcome and opened the floor to Bob Popek our District 13 Vice President who gave us an overview of District 13 activities.

Leo Salemi then introduced the guest speaker, Mr. Berny Portolesi Jr. who provided us with an update on the Instrumentation Apprenticeship Program in Ontario. Here are some of the highlights of his talk:

• Provincial certification of qualification (C of Q) for instrumentation (447A Industrial Instrument Mechanic) has been in place for many years but not many people were aware of it, or had a need for it.

• Certified trades people can write an exam to obtain a Red Seal stamp that will allow them to practice their trade in other provinces. Alberta has lead the way in the number of people holding this certificate up until 2005 when Ontario surpassed them and all other provinces combined.

• The qualifications and skill set of a person possessing a C of Q varies between province to province, this coupled with the fact that more and more companies are requesting that new applicants hold a C of Q in instrumentation has lead to confusion and in some cases, the hiring of inexperienced persons.

• The need for a government body to address these issues was long over due. Mr. Berny Portolesi Jr. (our speaker) went on a lobbying campaign back in 2003  to get the Ontario government to set up an Industry Advisory Board to address and correct these disparities.  This summer (2006) the Ministry of Training, Colleges & Universities  (MTCU) has approved the formation of this committee and is chaired by Berny. Job well done Berny!

• The Industry Advisory committee consists of various representatives from industry and meets on a regular basis. They are currently working in revising and updating the NOA (National Occupational Analysis) and the Schedule of Training that the college’s will use to deliver their programs.

The meeting was rapped up by Doug Norton, Treasurer who thanked Berny for such an enlightening evening.  Len Klochek had the final word with the reminder for our upcoming course in PID Loop Tuning on Oct. 23 & 24 to be held at Seneca College.

Special thanks to Berny Portolesi Jr. for putting on a great and very informative presentation and to all the attending members and guest, some of whom came as far away as Ottawa.

Questions & Answers

Some people could not attend but had questions they wanted to ask, these and the answers are included on the next page. 

1.        What Colleges here in Ontario, are entitled to deliver the Instrumentation Apprenticeship Program?

These Colleges have TDA Status:

Lambton College in Sarnia;

Sault College in Soo Ste. Marie

Confederation College in Thunder Bay

Cambrian College in Sudbury

Northern College in North Eastern Ontario (Kirkland Lake, Haileybury, Moosonee, Timmins, Kapuskasing)

2.       What is TDA Status and who grants this status?

TDA or Training Delivery Agent Status is through application and approval by the Ministry of Training Colleges and Universities.  If the College uses Provincially approved training curriculums within their existing Trade Program and is interested in recognition and delivering apprenticeship-training courses, they provide their information and apply to the MTCU.  These courses or programs are credited towards the apprentice’s in-school portion of completing their apprenticeship.

3.       What Industry’s (Company) have either attended or presented an interest in the progression of the Trade Committee and this Trade?

Dofasco, Stelco, Inco LTD, OPG, Bruce Power, ESSO Refinery, Weyerhauser, Falconbridge, Dyno Nobel NitrogenInc., The Canadian Technical Human Resource Board, Ministry of Environment, Instrumentation, Systems, and Automation Society, Xanth Controls, Atomic Energy of Canada, GDX Automotive, City of Guelph, City of Hamilton, Suncor, Nova Chemicals, Domtar, IBEW Local Union 105, and Cytec, to name a few.

4.       What is the difference between a Red Seal Trade and a Provincial Trade?

The main difference is the mobility of having a Red Seal License, which allows the tradesman to travel to other provinces and continue to be recognized as a licensed tradesman.  The provincial License is only recognized within that designated province.  The provincial License is governed over by the Ministry or Governmental Regulating body.  The Red Seal is Nationally recognized and coordinated federally.  It is governed over by an organization that solely looks over only red seal trades with the purpose to encourage standardization of training and certification programs.  The red seal must take into consideration each province’s concerns and requirements for responsibilities for each of the 44 red seal trades.  

5.       What is grandfathering? And will this take place?

Grandfathering is a term used when a tradesman has sufficient knowledge and experience that when submitted to the Ministry will automatically be granted a trade license.  This is rarely granted by the Ministry and has only occurred when creating a new trade.  Has it ever been granted from the Red Seal Organization for a recognized red seal trade? No, never.  Will it take place for instrumentation?  Highly doubtful as it has been officially discussed several separate times at several separate meetings.  This is not to say that it will not happen, but only that there are a multitude of road blocks that would have to first cleared before Grand-fathering would be allowed.  It is however an issue that the advisory committee wants to further explore.

6.       Can an individual apply to write their Instrumentation License with an ISA Certification as proof of experience?  Or vice versa?

Yes of course.  The requirements to be granted the opportunity to write the ISA Certification exams exceed the requirements for challenging the instrumentation license.  The individual would still be required to have the application documents properly filled out and signed, before speaking with a MTCU consultant asking for approval to write his/her license.  Yes the Ontario Instrumentation Red Seal License can be used for application to write the exam for an ISA Certification.  ISA would still require any additional experience and training achieved, but a Provincial License in addition to the years required for experience would weigh heavily on your approval for writing the ISA Certification.

7.       How will this Instrumentation License affect present day industry?

The License now gives industry guidelines and recommended practices that are deemed provincial standards used across Canada.  It also gives industry a more in depth training program that will be distributed evenly throughout Ontario, so an apprentice will not have to travel great distances and gain employment with all types of industry to learn the fundamentals of the trade.  The trade license also gives credibility to the individual having met the provincially recognized standards, equal to all other recognized trades within that industry.  For the company, it means that they have provincially recognized skilled employees working within their facility.  When having contact with the MOL or the MOE during investigations, trade licensing gives a level of qualification to all tradesman that, not only is the individual competent, but they are also experienced.

8.       Is there presently a review course or program that will assist an individual who is willing to challenge the license exam?

A Pre-Exam course does not yet exist.  But, Cambrian College have developed this very same program and is preparing to deliver it globally as a web based course.  This program is presently going through final negotiations with the administrative offices at the college on how, when, cost and other concerns for delivery.  Many individuals have contacted the committee or me and expressed their interest in writing the exam but are in need of a pre-exam course in preparation to writing the exam.  A notion has been discussed at a committee meeting about approaching Mohawk College and asking them to develop a proposal and plan for a pre-exam course.  It was felt that there would be sufficient local numbers to warrant such a course for duration longer then 3-5 years.

9.       Will the changes made to the Instrumentation program result in having to achieve the license similar to Electrical and Pluming?

No, the Industrial Instrumentation License is a voluntary license, along with the Industrial Electrical License.  Yet the Manta. Electrical license and the Ontario plumbing license are compulsory licenses, meaning that in order to practice the trade one would have to obtain the provincial license.

10.    Have the number of hours for training been defined for the instrumentation apprenticeships?

The total apprenticeship hours are 7000 to 8000 no different then any other apprenticeship duration.  The in-school portion of the apprenticeship program is a total of 720 hours.  The 720 hours has been a great debate so far, as many feel that this is far too little.  Presently industry are proving that they see the benefit of hiring a co-op student who is enrolled within a 3 year instrumentation program and hire them as an apprentice or upon graduating from that very 3 year instrumentation course, industry hires them as apprentices.  This method has the Ministry and technical colleges presently working on a new skilled trade co-op program that has yet to be released.  From a 3 year co-op program, the apprentice has already consumed the fundamentals and basic knowledge that will assist them for the on-the-job training portion of the apprenticeship. 

11.     Will Instrumentation Techs have classroom training on the code book, basic electrical installation requirements?

Yes, the Instrumentation Tech will have exposure to the Ontario Electrical Code while in School.  Various degrees of Electrical will be taught throughout their in-school training program, as it is presently outlined within the context of the instrumentation Schedule of Training.  They will be required to wire, terminate and service various Electrical items and installations.