1971 - The EDM Baseline Established

    The Association's Control Committee met in Calgary and Edmonton to discuss the installation and preservation of control monuments. A meeting with the city, government officials and developers had taken place to study the possibility of recommending some manner in which procedures for developing raw land may be streamlined. It was also disclosed that a base for testing electronic measuring equipment had been established at Calgary with similar bases soon to be established at Edmonton and other major centres.

Mr. MacCrimmon reminded the members, in his address at the 1971 Annual General Meeting, that should surveyors fail to recognize the need for the education of the surveyor, and by education he referred to a university degree as a prerequisite for admittance to the profession, should we fail to convince the public that land surveyors are the professionals to whom they must turn when contemplating any dealings whatsoever that involve land rights, then surveyors will most certainly continue to be regarded as a semi-professional group by many. The Association had formed a University Education Committee and the Committee hosted a panel discussion at the Annual General Meeting. The panel discussion covered such topics as the Canadian surveyor in the future, the qualifications and capabilities required in the graduate from the university survey program, changes in legislation as a result of the university degree program, and how to attract prospective students to the university program.

In other matters, President MacCrimmon urged the membership to strive for a high degree of accuracy in their field work, take the time to inspect their field surveys, and properly instruct their field personnel.

President MacCrimmon highlighted some of the activities of the southern branch of the Alberta Land Surveyors' Association and encouraged the northern group to become active again. Concerns would eventually be raised that the southern group was acting independently and this led to the Association taking control of the regional meetings.

Council continued to spend a great deal of time discussing an ALS Manual. During the previous year, Council felt that the Association was not in the stationery business but, in 1972, Council requested that a loose-leaf binder type of manual containing pertinent acts and regulations be made available for sale and that a prototype be prepared and presented at Council.

Finally, the Association also corresponded extensively with government that year. There was correspondence requesting that all Alberta Land Surveyors be made commissioners for oaths, there was concern about some surveyors were not submitting failing to submit a plan of survey to the Director of Surveys within the 60 day time limit; and concern that Land Titles' rates for printing were almost double that of private industry.

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