6
Geotechnical News December 2011
Message from the
President
Like 650 others, I have just returned
from the 64th Canadian Geotechnical
Conference (CGC) which was co-
hosted with the 14th Pan-American
Conference on Soil Mechanics and
Geotechnical Engineering (PCSMGE)
in Toronto from October 2 to 6,
2011. The conference has been a real
success thanks to the efforts of the
local Organizing Committee, under
the leadership of the Chair,
Andrew
Drevininkas
. The conference featured
not only the customary keynote
lectures from the CGS but keynote
lectures from our PanAm colleagues.
A highlight of the conference was
the
Casagrande Lecture
given by
our
Dr. Kerry Rowe
from Queen’s
University who presented his latest
work on leakage from lined landfills.
The Hardy Lecture
was given by
our
Dr. K.Y. Lo
of the University of
Western Ontario and the
Geotechnical
Colloquium
by
Dr. Craig Lake
of
Dalhousie University. All lectures were
well attended.
For those of you interested in the
operations of the Canadian Geotechni-
cal Society during the conference, let
me describe those briefly. It all starts
on the Saturday before the conference
when the Executive Committee (EC)
reviews the agenda for the CGS Board
of Directors Meeting on Sunday. The
EC does this to summarize effectively
the activities of the past year for the
Board and to anticipate questions from
the Board. Our Secretary-General,
Dr. Victor Sowa
, prepares the agenda
for the Board Meeting. At the Board
Meeting we go through this agenda
which leads to a review of the audited
financial statements for the previous
year, an update on the budget for the
current year, and the proposed budget
for the next year. The results of our
Board Meeting are brought forward to
the Annual General Meeting (AGM)
held at the Wednesday lunch during
the conference. This is all dry stuff but
essential to the proper governance of a
distinguished technical society like the
CGS.
One of the highlights of this con-
ference for me was the Legget Dinner
held on the last night of the confer-
Bryan Watts, President of Canadian
Geotechnical Society, 2011-2012.
