Changes

Almost 12 years ago, a window of opportunity opened for the CCGA to secure three-digit dialing for access to One-Call services across Canada. Looking back, I don’t quite remember how I landed in the role to lead that initiative but it certainly wasn’t by design. I had just recently joined HMA Land Services to kick off a new operational services division, which was challenging in itself, when the opportunity arose. The CCGA wasn’t organized back then the way it is today but somehow, and in a very short time, over $100,000 was raised to engage the services of a telecom lawyer to help the CCGA prepare a submission to the CRTC for shared use of 811 in Canada and navigate the CRTC process.

We know the conclusion of that application — it was rejected by the CRTC and after a slight pause, Plan B, ClickBeforeYouDig.com, was initiated. It cost less than $20 to secure the ClickBeforeYouDig URL in English, French and Spanish — a fraction of the 100K raised for the application to the CRTC. Shortly after the CRTC announced its decision, I vividly recall delivering a presentation to the Canadian Energy Pipeline Association’s standing operations committee about the merits of web-based locate requests when Don Wishart, executive vice-president with TransCanada Pipelines (now TC Energy) and chair of the CEPA operations committee, asked very simply, “Why didn’t we do this in the first place?”

That was a good question, and it has stayed with me ever since.

As a country, we were envious of our damage prevention friends in the U.S. for branding 811 into a countrywide public awareness juggernaut and we wanted that for Canada. As a process, though, it was still a phone number. Web-based services and mobile applications were proliferating at an alarmingly exponential rate; and cloud-based services were just beginning. That is where we needed to focus the CCGA’s vision.

It took a while to convince leaders across Canada to adopt the ClickBeforeYouDig call-to-action and still today, public awareness messaging is inconsistent, but the data doesn’t lie. Independent analysis confirms web-based locate requests result in less damages than phone-based requests — and that’s the goal, isn’t it?

Senate bill S233 and S229 was another high-water mark for the CCGA, and once again, the CCGA grasped an opportunity to work with Senator Grant Mitchell to introduce damage prevention legislation governing federally-regulated underground infrastructure. As regulatory processes go, it was a wild ride! For almost six years, the CCGA worked with Senator Mitchell and his team toward this goal and the ongoing engagement from critical CCGA members, in particular, the Canadian Gas Association was tremendous. Working with parliamentary counsel, Ginette Fortuné, as we drafted the language for S233 and S229 was a highlight of my working career – and I will always recall precisely where I was when I heard bill S229 was adopted in the Senate – parked in my car in a vacant lot on 11th Street SE in Calgary listening to the senate proceedings on my phone. 

Over the past 12 years, the CCGA board of directors expanded to a high of 24 members; becoming an “Association of Associations” but when the hard economic times hit, its members began to thin and governance changes reflecting Canada’s financial downturn, and the persistent cloud over the energy sector were necessary. 

In Alberta, the economic forecast has remained dismal. Global energy prices and government policies have decimated the oil and gas sector and many companies, such as ENCANA (now OVINTIV), once the jewel of Western Canada; have moved their head offices out of Canada altogether. The estimated job losses in Alberta’s energy sector since 2015 is greater than 100,000 and the current provincial unemployment rate is 11 per cent.

The Alberta Common Ground Alliance hasn’t been immune to the immense challenges its members have faced for half a decade. Where ABCGA meetings once routinely attracted 75 members and committees were flush with engaged and enthusiastic volunteers, there simply aren’t enough people left to devote time to the cause and as a result, meeting capacity often reduced to 20 representatives or less.

With no end in sight to Alberta’s economic forecast, and the overwhelming fiscal realities proving too much to bear, Alberta One-Call Corporation (AOC) and the ABCGA issued a joint Item to its respective Boards of Directors late last year to unify services under the AOC banner. The motions passed and the transition to a unified service will be completed Dec. 31, 2020. The change secures the ABCGA’s future and maintains its legacy, but there is a personal toll with streamlining decisions like this. Michelle Tetreault’s contract with the ABCGA ended Nov. 30 and a few other ABCGA administrative contracts will not be renewed.

In parallel with the changes in Alberta, I submitted my resignation as president of the CCGA, effective Dec. 31, 2020, to CCGA Chair, Todd Scott, in October. Todd, the CCGA executive and I are now working through the transition process and for the foreseeable future; I will continue to be part of the CCGA board of directors representing Alberta.

Leading the CCGA in both official languages over the last decade has been an honour. Thank you for the opportunity, the meaningful engagement and the triumphs we celebrated. Despite the challenges and adversity, we created a unified voice that continues to be heard; and, we succeeded in moving the damage prevention needle a little further.

 

Mike Sullivan