Manitoba Association of Landscape Architects push labour mobility at national conference

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This article was published 31/05/2024 (838 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

The Manitoba Association of Landscape Architects has enough standing in the professional community to host the Canadian Society of Landscape Architects conference this week in Winnipeg, with about 300 attendees from across the country.

But while the local association (with its 200-plus members) adheres to the most rigorous standards for accreditation across the country, unlike its Ontario, Alberta and British Columbia peers, MALA is not a recognized professional body in the province.

Bob Somers, a principal at Scatliff+Miller+Murray in Winnipeg and outgoing president of the CSLA, said it is nagging issue the MALA has been working on for the entirety of its existence.

“One of our biggest challenges is labour mobility,” he said Friday. “Those other three big provinces have it and so they have reciprocal agreements. We are falling behind.”

While Somers said MALA membership requirements are just as thorough as those provinces that have licensure, the reality is professionals from other provinces have no problem working in Manitoba, but the reverse is not true.

For example, Glenn Manning, a principal at HTFC Planning & Design in Winnipeg, said while his firm is doing work in Yellowknife and Halifax, it cannot work in B.C., nor can it bid on jobs in the U.S., because MALA does not have a name act that allows it to be registered as a professional association.

“We have exactly the same rigorous requirements (as other jurisdictions),” he said. “The only thing we are missing is the name act.”

What MALA is looking for is no different, for example, than what the Law Society of Manitoba does for lawyers and Doctors Manitoba does for physicians: they hold the rights to say who and who is not a lawyer or doctor.

However, Somers and others believe the stars may be aligning to finally secure the provincial legislation MALA needs.

Not only has the NDP government signalled a supportive attitude, even the previous Progressive Conservative government went so far as to draft legislation, but then did not get the chance to table it.

“We made some headway with the previous government and we’ve had some great conversations with the current one,” said Somers.

MALA also has support from allied professional groups, including engineers and architects.

“We recognize we’re not a huge organization, but it feels like it should be an easy win,” Somers said, noting the department of landscape architecture at the University of Manitoba is the oldest school in the country for the profession.

“The timing is right,” said Somers. “We should be just doing it.”

Tracy Schmidt, provincial minister of environment and climate change, spoke at the CSLA conference Friday.

While name legislation would not be her department’s responsibility, she said her government is supportive of what MALA is looking for.

“We appreciate, value and respect the work that landscape architects do in Manitoba and we understand they have been advocating for such recognition for some time,” Schmidt said.

“I can assure you our government is happy to continue the dialogue and we will try to find the best path forward.”

martin.cash@freepress.mb.ca