Geotechnical News - March 2012 - page 6

6 Geotechnical News • March 2012 www.geotechnicalnews.com
CANADIAN GEOTECHNICAL SOCIETY NEWS
Message from the President The beginning of 2012 finds the Cana-
dian Geotechnical Society in good
health. Our Executive Committee
enters its second year with two new
members, Dr. Baolin Wang, who will
represent the Sections and, Dr. Lukas
Arenson, who will represent the Divi-
sons. Dr. John C. Sobkowicz is the
VP, Technical, Dr. Jean Marie Konrad
is the VP, Communications, and Mr.
Peter Gaffran is the VP, Finance. We
thank Ms. Marcia MacLellan who rep-
resented the Sections in 2011 and, Dr.
Chris Hawkes, represented the Divi-
sions. Ably assisting the Executive
Committee are our Secretary-General,
Dr. Victor Sowa and our Adminis-
trator, Mr. Wayne Gibson. Ms. Lisa
McJunkin, Administrator Assistant,
handles all of our member inquiries
and is really the voice of the CGS.
This year is the 125th Anniversary of
the Engineering Institute of Canada
which is the umbrella organization
for technical societies in Canada.
“Canada’s well-known iron-ring, The
Canadian Academy of Engineering
and a model for the incorporation
of Canada’s Provincial Engineering
Associations were all originated in
the EIC” (EIC “Celebrating 125 Years
of Canadian Engineering Societ-
ies”, www.eic.ici.ca). The EIC will
celebrate with two award ceremonies
this year; the first will be at the Westin
Hotel on February 25, 2012 in Ottawa
and the second in Edmonton on June 7
at the Shaw Convention Centre as part
of the Canadian Society of Civil Engi-
neering who were the founding society
of the EIC so are also celebrating their
125th year anniversary.
The CGS will be particularly well
represented at these award evenings.
Our Dr. R. Kerry Rowe of Queen’s
University will receive the Sir John
Kennedy Award, the senior award of
the EIC. This follows his Casagrande
Lecture at the PanAm conference
in Toronto last year, a distinction
conferred by the International Society
of Soil Mechanics and Geotechnical
Engineering. Our Mr. Fred Matich
will receive the Julian C. Smith Medal
for achievements in the development
of Canada. Our Dr. Derek Martin of
the University of Alberta will receive
the John B. Stirling Medal. Also,
our Dr. Doug Stead of Simon Fraser
University and Dr. Hesham El Naggar
of the University of Western Ontario
have been made Fellows of the EIC.
Congratulations to all recipients and
thanks to all nominators for taking the
time to honour your colleagues.
I just finished registering on our
new CGS website for 2012. It went
especially smoothly. If you have any
issues with the website please contact
the CGS Administrator. The Executive
Committee just concluded a three year
Bryan Watts, President of Canadian
Geotechnical Society
Bank and its affiliates were original ad-
dressees thereof; provided, however,
that U. S. Bank and its affiliates shall be
deemed not to be subject to or bound by
any of the obligations of any original
addressee or owner of the Property in
any agreement related to the Report....”
In essence, this wording would require
environmental professionals to commit
risk management suicide. It gives the
Bank all the benefits of being able to
rely on the report (plus a potential es-
cape from the constraints of the eco-
nomic loss doctrine) with absolutely
none of the liabilities or responsibilities
that comprised the business context
through which the report was devel-
oped. In a best-practices scenario – the
type of scenario to which, I presume,
the Bank subscribes – the client selects
a particularly qualified consultant, dis-
cusses its needs with the consultant, and
then works with the consultant to mutu-
ally establish a scope of service for the
engagement. The consultant and client
then discuss the consideration the con-
sultant needs to fulfill the scope of ser-
vice and manage the risk associated
with potentially lifelong responsibility
for the deliverable. Such consideration
includes the fee and certain risk man-
agement provisions of the contract,
such as limitation of liability.
By requiring a consultant to prepare
and sign its form letter, the Bank is stat-
ing, in essence, “We want to be able to
rely on the report indefinitely (and even
if we do not issue the financing, by the
way) without having to accept any of
your contractual safeguards, without
having to compensate you for any of
your customary, anticipated risks, and
without having to compensate you for
your new, significantly expanded risks,
especially the new risk that arises be-
cause you designed your service for
some other party, and with no knowl-
edge of the Bank’s needs and prefer-
ences, and no knowledge of the service
scope the Bank believes is best-suited to
address those needs and preferences.”
To a very real extent, Mr. Grundhofer,
this is like requiring a physician to be li-
able for your health after you decide to
follow the course of treatment the phy-
sician prescribed for your friend whose
illness (in your opinion) was kind of
like your own.
Geotechnical News, September 2005 19
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