Incredible to read through these comments and very difficult to understand where people are coming from; on the one hand “it’s a travesty and a joke” and in just about the same breath there isn’t enough enforcement and the TC courses are a requirement only and not useful. There is clearly a lot of frustration and mistrust but the shotgun blasts are misdirected at CTAG and are aimed in the wrong direction. Folks, you are too close to this. Keep in mind, the public has no idea what is required and is looking at limited information presented to them. Insurers aren’t required to ask you if you or your vessel are legal, the onus is on you. That isn’t going to change any time soon – sure, lots of you are experienced and have a loyal clientele but wouldn’t you be interested to attract new customers or to, for whatever reason, take advantage of all of your efforts and experience and to make sure TC doesn’t change their mind about regulations? How do you propose to do that if the reputation that is drifting around is that BC’s saltwater guides are an unmonitored, unchecked bunch and that it’s the Wild Wild West? Sure, there are requirements of guides these days but as you know, there are no guarantees, no checks and little to no consequences for those who don’t play by the rules. Wouldn’t it be useful and helpful to have a designation that externally confirms that you are the best and a professional? This isn’t to say that you get CTAG and you are better than before just that it’s a descriptor that you are entitled to use. No, it’s not mandatory but yes, TC and the RCMP are aware of it and the fact that it isn’t mandatory is a strong argument that it’s the people who are interested in distinguishing themselves from the rest and have all legal requirements in place that are participating. The CTAG challenge is also attracting those who have realised that they have had to jump through a lot of hoops and finally here is one (last one hopefully) that could potentially stop further regulations, provides a promotional opportunity and actually pays. It is hard to understand the resistance to something that actually pays you for your efforts and could significantly help perception and promotion and at the very least won’t hurt you or your business (remember this isn’t a government thing, it’s an industry thing). The public can relate and understand a certification; a tool that you can use to promote the quality of service that the industry provides is far better than trying to promote all on your own and in isolation. Some have been critical of the assessment or of the quality of TAG individuals that they have encountered – the process and individuals are required to meet a minimum requirement. This is more than can be said for the industry up to now. An overarching reputation for a top class of guides will provide value for individual businesses, insulate the sector from additional regulation and would potentially provide a voice for the guiding community.
The fact remains this is an industry designed program by many of your peers and in response to so many of the things you are complaining about here and could face if things remain status quo; more changes to TC regulations and the imposition of business licences with no other purpose but to extract more tax from you and your business as a couple of examples. All efforts were made over the 4 years in which it was developed to consult with the guiding community. Knowing this crowd now some will likely say “well, I wasn’t talked to”, of course it isn’t possible to talk to everyone but a lot of care was taken to get a cross section of folks to contribute.
Look at El Capitan’s post – he’s basically described a program and the certification that is a genuine attempt to make things better and actually provides a real benefit – net $500.00 and real insurance discounts. If that was all it did you’d think it would be enough (finally, something that pays us!) and hard to argue against but looking through all of the posts so much energy is used to discredit or find fault meanwhile suggesting no work forwards or ways to improve things.
The TAG Challenge is meant to verify your qualifications so as to make the certification credible. 750 hours of experience was intended to recognize a person who had spent a couple of seasons as an independent charter operator or a guide at a lodge operation working for the better part of a season. Sure, you can complain about that but there was a lot of discussion about where to do draw the line and what would allow someone to gain enough experience to provide someone with a good and safe experience. The idea isn’t to identify a Master Guide but to identify someone (a person not the vessel) who is competent and legal. It is not a “course” and is intended to take a reasonable amount of care to verify the information provided by the challenger.
Again, it seems lost that this the certification isn’t working on a conspiracy theory or trying to discredit or disempower the guiding community. Exactly the opposite, CTAG is an attempt to develop a tool that allows tidal BC’s professional guides to say they are part of a well described community that operates to the best standards in North America. And, at the same time, a challenge of the certification will get you insurance discounts and cash dollars....
