CMX 2004 - Plumbing & HVAC

Western Update
In Brief
Calgary to host
RSES conference
The Calgary chapter of RSES
Canada will host the 67th RSES
International Conference Sept.
30 - Oct. 2 at the Westin Hotel.
The event will feature a trade
show – the RSES HVACR
Technology Expo – along with
leading industry speakers including
Canadians Garth Denison,
CMS, of Sporlan Valve and Brent
Pennington of Hydrocarbon
Training & Services. Other speakers
include Jack Bartell of York
International, Dennis Morgan of
Kickstart, and Wes Taylor, CMS,
of Carlyle Compressor. Tests for
the RSES CM and CMS certificates,
EPA Refrigerant Usage
Certification, NTC and NATE
Certification are also scheduled.
For more information, call Kirby
Kirkpatrick at Success Express at
800-310-6853, 317-718-5910,
Fax at 317-718-5912, or Email
at: rses@successexpressmp.com.
Commissioning
courses created
The Winnipeg Chapter of the
Refrigeration Service Engineers
Society of Canada has developed
seven education sessions on
equipment commissioning,
reports Todd Brown, CM, education
chair. The morning sessions
cover furnaces (March 20), ventilation
(April 3), instrumentation
(April 17) and heat pumps (April
24). Air conditioning, boilerscombustion
and rooftop programs
were held earlier, all at
Red River College. Contact
George Kurowski, CMS, at (204)
632-2448, or e-mail: gkurowski@rrc.mb.ca
for more information.
Session sponsors include
Ecco Heating, Emco Distribution,
B.A. Robinson, Lennox, Nutech
Energy, Refrigerative Supply,
WWG Totaline and Wolseley
Canada.
Low flush program
Vancouver’s three North Shore
municipalities are offering residents
$50 per toilet to switch to
new low flush models, reports
the Canadian Water and
Wastewater Association. The
municipality has signed up to
take part in a GVRD pilot program
to encourage more use of
‘so-called ultra low flow toilets.’
(Please see toilet test report on
page 7.)
B.C. Red Seal
marks raised
Aprobe into Red Seal (inter-provincial)
marks in B.C. showed that it
was common practice to raise the
marks of apprentices that were slightly
below the passing grade of 70 per cent.
A review by the B.C. Financial
Institutions Commission showed that
279 marks were raised between January
1995 and June 2000. An information
bulletin from the commission states: ‘…
raising marks by one or two percentage
points to bring them to the passing
grade established by the national Red
Seal program was “not uncommon.”
These adjustments were made under
strict guidelines.”
However, following a report by the
B.C. Comptroller General’s office, the
practice was halted (in June 2000).
The practice restarted a month after
Phil Turpin was hired to manage the
province’s new Industry Training
Centre (ITC) in Burnaby. A further 33
marks were raised between April 2003
and Jan. 21, 2004.
Turpin was fired. He maintains that
he did not know the government had
ended the practice and is suing for
wrongful dismissal, abuse of authority
and defamation, reported the
Vancouver Sun.
Of the 312 marks raised to 70 per
cent, 259 apprentices scored 69 per cent,
45 were raised from 68 per cent and
eight had been hiked from 67 per cent.
The commission did not look at
marks prior to 1995 because the provincial
database goes back only that far.
Duncan MacRae, who the commission
recognizes as ‘an authority on
industry training acknowledged in B.C.
and the rest of Canada’, was appointed
interim director of the ITC. MacRae has
established procedures to ensure that
Red Seal guidelines are followed. These
will remain in place when the new
Industry Training Authority assumes
responsibility later this year, the commission
reports.
Representatives of the Mechanical
Contractors Association of B.C. could
not be reached for comment.
Sewers for Sooke
Vancouver Island plumbing and sewer
contractors will be busy for the next few
years. Residents in the town of 9000
voted in favour of borrowing $8.8 million
to help finance a $23 million project
to provide sewers and secondary
sewage treatment for the town’s core
area. And every building will be hooked
up – it’s mandatory, reported the
Canadian Water and Wastewater
Association.
Sooke is the largest community in
B.C. that doesn’t have a sewer system.
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www.plumbingandhvac.ca March/April 2004 – Plumbing & HVAC Product News 65