It was 40 years ago that the ASTT Act was brought into law, an historic day for engineering and applied science technologists and technicians. Looking back, the first submission to the BC Government was in 1977, with the thought that Government would move ahead right away and enact the proposed legislation. We were young and naive! Several proposals over about 7 years, much contact with Government, and then John Reynolds, a back-bench MLA at the time, agreed to sponsor a Private Members Bill. While our first choice was a Government Bill, we were not about to turn down the offer to proceed with the Private Bill.
The Bill (the Applied Science Technologists Act) was tabled as a usual form of professional legislation, some 25 pages as we recall. And my goodness did this Bill attract attention. So many organizations, other professional associations, all interested in what was going down, many of whom spoke at the Legislative Committee stage. Concerns like, ‘we don’t believe you should call yourselves professionals’… and ‘what about this scope of practice, we are concerned’… and more.
After all interventions were addressed the Legislative Committee Chair approached Executive Director John Leech and said something like, ‘put your advisors on hold, go home this weekend and come back to the Committee with all issues addressed’. No further direction was required, and John went home on the weekend and re-wrote a draft, which was then reviewed by the volunteer lead, Ron Green (who went on to become President) and with legal counsel. A 7-page draft, the Applied Science Technologists and Technicians (ASTT) Act, was submitted to the BC Government. The drastically modified Bill was reviewed by the Legislative Committee and then tabled in the Legislature, with MLAs wondering whether the Bill was an amended statute or a new statute. Thankfully this minor question did not matter as John Reynolds and the Government were focused on moving the Bill forward.
While Private Member Bills usually have little hope of being enacted, in this case we had built a parade around the Bill to the point where Government was supportive. Voila…! the ASTT Act was passed. On September 26, 1985 the Act was proclaimed by the Lieutenant Governor.