SPED Canadian Outreach Winter 2025, Mississauga and Montreal
Canadian Outreach Report
In a long-overdue outreach to Canada, William Beazley and Catherine Van Der Walt called on SPED Chapters, Members and friends across Canada. Canada is home to many SPED individual and corporate members who’ve asked for local chapter support and updates to their employers. The outreach was in November, 2025.
Montreal
Montreal, Quebec, is a leading design center for mining, water/wastewater and food/beverage projects. AtkinsRéalis hosted a SPED talk on PPD Lessons Learned, with the help and support of Francois (Frank) Haesler. The talk was in their famed Lava Lab.
The next day, SPED presented two topics at Hatch Montreal:
- Piping Layout Checking - Tips and Tricks
- PPD Lessons Learned
Hatch is a SPED Global Member and the Hatch visits were organized by Erle Quast, Global Director for Piping Engineering Excellence. Local arrangements were coordinated by Adam Shaw and Isabelle Lajeunesse.
Mississauga, Hatch
Moving to Mississauga, Ontario, SPED presented at Hatch’s Global Headquarters. They asked for three topics:
- Piping Layout Checking - Tips and Tricks
- Perfect Piping Work Package
- PPD Lessons Learned
The 1-1/2-hour seminar was webcast to multiple offices. Erle Quast made the introduductions.
Calgary
In Calgary, Alberta, SPED called on Angela Koch, Piping Department Manager, Fluor Canada. SPED offered suggestions and resources to Fluor, who uses SPED training videos to onboard pipers and other training. The visit was organized with help from Kevin Noakes, Fluor employee, past SPED President and Chairman of the PPD Advisory Committee. Later, SPED met with Kevin to discuss PPDAC plans for SPED PPD courses and other topics.
SPED also met with Clarence Wynter, SPED director, to discuss international outreach and his ongoing support as credential reviewer for PPD Applicants. Finally, SPED met with Glen Payne, who is organizing an initiative in Tanzania for workforce development.
The result of this initiative tour was outreach to over 100 pipers from multiple employers. Questions were good and feedback was positive. Our thanks to the local members who helped coordinate the multiple visits and to the SPED board for approving the outreach.
