Commercial Real Estate Broker and Commercial Property Manager Industry Council Update

A message from your Chair, Terry Engen

On December 1, 2020, Terry Engen was appointed to the Commercial Real Estate Broker and Commercial Property Manager Industry Council by the Minister of Service Alberta and was selected as Chair by the other Industry Council members. Mr. Engen brings governance experience from the Hockey Alberta and Hockey Canada board of directors, and he served as a Hearing Commissioner with the Alberta Energy Regulator where he conducted hearings for energy applications and regulatory appeals. Mr. Engen also has extensive governance experience at the municipal level, having been a Reeve, Councillor, and Deputy Reeve for Lacombe County.

This Industry Council represents, as the name suggests, licensees who work in either (or both) trading in or leasing commercial properties in Alberta. For simplicity’s sake, I’ll just refer to our group as the Commercial Industry Council in this message. Please read on for an update on our activities the past five months.

By-elections

With the Real Estate Amendment Act 2020 coming into force on December 1, 2020, RECA’s new governance bodies were formed, each with two public members and three licensee members who work in the industry that Industry Council is responsible for regulating. Given the breadth and depth of commercial real estate and property management in Alberta, the Commercial Industry Council requires licensees to have in-depth knowledge of specific aspects of commercial real estate or commercial property management. As such, when the new RECA governance structure formed, the Commercial Industry Council was still one seat empty, which meant that our group needed to hold a by-election before some of our work could move ahead. The by-election to fill the final seat was held in early February 2021, welcoming long-time commercial industry licensee Cheri Long to the fold. We were all hands on deck and ready to get to work!

Education divestment

We are collaborating with the other Industry Councils to ensure we take a consistent approach to education divestment, which includes creating core competencies for industry professionals and education requirements that we’ll impart to approved third-party providers. Commercial licensees should keep an eye on their inboxes for a national competency survey for residential and commercial real estate professionals. This is part of a national effort to harmonize real estate competencies to allow for easier labour mobility between provinces, and will be part of the process for the Commercial Industry Council to set our own competencies and learner outcomes. I encourage everyone to take the time to complete the survey. This initiative is a priority for us in the coming months.

Other priorities

The Commercial Industry Council has also been discussing other commercial real estate issues such as lawyers trading in real estate, FINTRAC requirements, and the commercial industry licensing structure.

Should the Commercial Industry Council propose any changes to any standards, we will consult with industry stakeholders before making any decisions. And ultimately, all Rule changes must be approved by the Minster of Service Alberta.

Upcoming stakeholder engagement opportunities

On June 2, 2020, we will be hosting an online engagement session and I encourage you to register to attend. You’ll learn about how we operate within RECA’s new governance structure, receive an update on our recent activities and priorities for the coming months. It will be a great opportunity to meet your Council members and ask us questions. If you can’t make the session, you can reach us at: CommIC@reca.ab.ca and ask us a question we’ll address in the session. The session will be posted to RECA’s website afterwards. Please also take a moment to fill out the Strategic Planning form on RECA’s website. The Industry Council and the Board of Directors will use your feedback to set the strategic direction of RECA. We’ll also be hosting broker forums for brokers and broker delegates soon—if you’re interested in attending, please email us.  We really hope to see a high level of engagement from our sector. It’s important for us to hear from you firsthand and for you to get to know your Industry Council members. You’ll see we have a pretty talented group of folks—one of which, Laura Sharen, has just been recognized as Member of the Year by BOMA Edmonton. Congratulations, Laura! We recognize and appreciate your expertise and dedication to the profession and the Commercial Industry Council. Ben Van Dyk and Brittanee Laverdure round out our capable group, bringing years of industry and governance experience to the table.