In the October 2009 issue of Plan, Maud Cohen, Eng., President of the OIQ, announced that the agreement in principle between the OIQ and the RéseauIQ would end on March 31, 2010.  That decision was driven by an initiative of the Order to issue an RFP for banking and home and auto insurance services. 

The RéseauIQ was nevertheless invited to submit its proposal in August 2009. But in a letter dated February 3, 2010, the OIQ informed the RéseauIQ that its proposal would not be accepted, even though La Personnelle has been offering excellent services to engineers for what is now some 23 years. 

The partnership between RéseauIQ and La Personnelle is not in any way jeopardized but engineers will probably soon see new players arrive, accompanying the return of the OIQ to offering commercial services.

It would be tempting to think that this new competitive environment starting March 31 will result in better rates for engineers.  That is generally what occurs.  Nevertheless, there is reason to wonder, just as the Office des professions  has already done, whether such a race for revenues does not risk directing a professional order away from its primary mission. 

As engineers, we should congratulate ourselves on having had the wisdom in the early 2000s to establish two organizations with distinct but complementary missions. It was an initiative that has been hailed by several generations of those elected the presidency of the OIQ as well as by the RéseauIQ.

But what image will the new situation send to members and the general public? And how will the current partners and future prospects react, seeing two organizations like the OIQ and the RéseauIQ fighting for customers for over commercial services? 

Category confusion is generally harmful.  A professional order is not an association nor the other way around, and that is how it should be.  Especially in these times when the profession¹ is in sufficient turmoil and public confidence in all professional orders is eroding.  

In fact, if each would simply maintain its focus on its primary mission, the whole profession and engineers would come out ahead.  


  ¹In order to supervise the professional system and ensure that each order adequately performs its mandate to protect the public, the government established an autonomous government agency, the Office des professions du Québec, which has the power to intervene with the orders and make recommendations to the government.

A bit of history: from the OIQ's decision to the evolution of the RéseauIQ

In the 2000-2001 Annual Report of the Ordre des ingénieurs du Québec (OIQ), its President, Roger Nicolet, Eng., justified the creation of a service corporation as follows:  “The refocusing of the functions and activities of the OIQ on its primary mandate seeks greater efficiency. That was precisely one of the principles that guided the Bureau in its decision to create an autonomous services corporation, as we did last year for FÉRIQUE. The Corporation de services des ingénieurs du Québec  can maintain existing services and develop new ones, which was impossible for the OIQ as part of its mandate to protect the public.”

Wishing to refocus on its primary mandate to protect the public, the OIQ passed on its service offerings in exchange for royalties paid to the OIQ. Financially, legally and politically independent of each other, in a spirit of mutual aid, equilibrium and respect for commitments, the two bodies have coexisted ever, since under the aegis of Roger Nicolet, Gaëtan Lefebvre and Gaétan Samson at the presidency of the OIQ and of Zaki Ghavitian and Giuseppe Indelicato at SERVIQ.

In 2004, the idea of expanding the mission of SERVIQ grew around the nucleus of the desire to give a voice to engineers, resulting in the creation of the RéseauIQ we know today. Starting in 2006, the RéseauIQ emerged with the mission of “serving the common interests of all engineers,”  in order to give engineers a voice so that they could rally around important issues and participate and contribute positively to debates on matters of interest to Québec society.

In was in that vein that President Zaki Ghavitian, Eng. emphasized in the 2006-2007 Annual Report of the OIQ the importance of renewing the partnership agreement with the RéseauIQ, noting that “the OIQ and the Corporation have very different mandates: the OIQ protects the public and gives preference to the public interest; the Corporation defends its members and the interests of its members. This must not be lost sight of, even if a good agreement is required to ensure the complementary nature of our action.”

It was in this spirit of sound collaboration that the OIQ and the RéseauIQ renewed their three-year agreement and committed to a business relationship until March 31, 2010. The RéseauIQ continued to ensure the OIQ “a reasonable compensatory income,” and to implement the ambitious plans contained in its three-year strategy, for the benefit of all of its members and to enhance the expertise and social contribution of engineers.  For its part, the RéseauIQ collects no dues in exchange for its services.