August 11, 2025 • 40 mins
The CWB Association is thrilled to collaborate with Skills/Compétences Canada on a special podcast series. This year, we are excited to interview the Skills Canada Executive Directors from across Canada. Tune in as we explore their skills journey and commitment to promoting skilled trades in their provinces and territories!
When Chris Browton, Executive Director of Skills Canada Alberta, first started in 2001, the organization had only a staff of five employees, and has evolved to reaching over 40,000 youth annually and consistently producing world-class trades competitors. Competition drives excellence, and Skills Alberta has built a sophisticated progression system dividing the province into nine regions, each anchored by a post-secondary institution. This structure creates a pipeline where talent rises through regional and provincial competitions before representing Alberta nationally. But beyond competitions, the organization has expanded into widespread programming, including their trademarked "Try a Trade" experiences.
Website: https://skillsalberta.com/
Follow Skills/Compétences Canada:
Website: https://www.skillscompetencescanada.com/en/
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/user/SkillsCanadaOfficial
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/skillscompetencescanada/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/skills_canada
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/skillscanada
There is no better time to be a member! The CWB Association membership is new, improved, and focused on you. We offer a FREE membership with a full suite of benefits to build your career, stay informed, and support the Canadian welding industry. https://www.cwbgroup.org/association/become-a-member
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:01):
All right, I check, check.
Good, so I'm Max Duran.
Max Duran, cwb AssociationWelding Podcast podcast podcast.
Today we have a really coolguest welding podcast.
The show is about to begin.
(00:24):
Hello and welcome to anotheredition of the CWB Association
podcast.
My name is Max Duran and I amhere in beautiful Regina,
saskatchewan, my backyard herehosting Skills Canada Competence
.
One of the great things thatwe're doing here is we're
interviewing all the executivedirectors of the provinces and
territories, from coast to coastto coast.
Right now, I have in front ofme Chris Broughton, who is here
(00:47):
from Alberta.
How are you doing Really good.
How are you enjoying Regina?
Regina is great.
Have you been here before?
I have been here before, sofrom Edmonton, that's where our
office is.
A lot of similarities.
I like the smaller cities,Commutes and all the rest of it
drives you crazy.
So it's lovely to be in a placewhere, 15 minutes from anywhere
(01:11):
, from anywhere.
Yeah, the the travel here wasamazing.
Yeah, people super friendly,great venue.
We've had a great week.
Yeah, it's funny, I showed mystaff for a rush hour this
morning.
Yeah, there was, uh, five carsaround me.
Yeah, I know, I know I was.
Can you handle this?
From Toronto GTA, can youhandle this rush hour?
Five cars, toronto, vancouver,just numbing traffic issues.
(01:35):
No, it's been a delight.
I'm so glad that Regina hosted.
Like I said, we've had a greattime.
What do you think of the venue,these facilities, because
they're new.
You probably haven't seen thisbefore.
No, I haven't.
You know, we're fortunate.
We've got a really nice venuein Edmonton.
Calgary just built a new onetoo.
Calgary just built a new one aswell, but this one's got
(01:57):
everything you want to be underfixed structure.
Everything wants to be in here.
So it sure, everything wants tobe in here.
So it's, it's well laid out.
Yeah, everybody's got the room.
Wide walkways, beautiful, yeah,yeah, yeah, no, it's, it's
really good.
And and what I think is reallycool is is the fact that, uh,
you've got the backdrop with uh,mosaic.
Yeah, yeah, the stadium rightthere.
Last time I was here, my son wasplaying in a hockey tournament
(02:18):
and uh, yeah and uh.
So that's the last time I wasin in town, so unfortunately,
not in football season, buttonight You're going to go,
we're going to go.
Have you been to a Ryder gamebefore?
No, I haven't been to a Rydergame.
Do you like football?
I do.
I love football.
I love all sports.
I'm a sports guy.
I'm a sports guy too.
But it's a beautiful stadium,it's gorgeous.
(02:39):
We use it a lot.
Yeah, yeah, and you should,absolutely you should.
It was expensive.
They always are.
It's part of the identity ofthe city.
Yeah, it is Right, it's agovernment town, but it's also a
sports town and that RoughRider team is iconic in this
country.
It is, it is.
And I always like to compareAlberta and Saskatchewan in
terms of the two cities.
So Katuna's like Calgary andRegina's like Edmonton.
(03:01):
I always felt that I lived inEdmonton for a short while as a
welder.
Growing up, I was in the steelindustry and I worked for the
mill here, I worked for mines,and then I went to Edmonton for
a bit and it was like the samebut bigger.
Yeah, right, and I very muchgot the same vibe of blue-collar
living.
Yes, absolutely, you know.
And then you have theindustrial areas and everyone's
(03:23):
like oh, the industrial areasare ugly.
It's like I just see money.
Yeah, like, when I seerefineries, I see money.
Absolutely, like if you have arefinery in your city, your
city's probably doing okay, yeah, there's a real respect for
that in both of these places.
Yeah, they understand the valueof it, right, it's really.
Yeah, right, it's, it's really.
Braids are just woven into thesocial fabric, I think in our
(03:45):
two provinces.
Yeah, so we consider ourselvesreally fortunate to do what we
do in a place like Alberta.
Yeah, yeah.
Now, how much of a team did youbring?
What's the?
What's the contingency?
Uh, team count 62, 62competitors, uh, and then a
staff compliment on top of thatand, all told, I think we were
(04:05):
100 bodies, 100 bodies withvolunteers and mentors or
whatever else.
Yeah, you, betcha, coaches andstaff.
Team, so 62,.
That puts you at, I think,second largest team here Behind
Ontario, yeah, behind.
No, that's a lie.
Bc has 69, ontario has 60.
Okay, you guys are at 62, so Ithink you're ahead, all right.
Well, we'll see what the medalcount is tomorrow.
Well, it all matters onSaturday morning.
(04:26):
That's all that comes down toyou, betcha, you bring your big
team, we're looking for medalcount.
That's what we're looking for.
Well, and that's one thingthat's interesting that I'd like
to talk to you about, becauseit's trades that we know every
year it's either going to be usor Alberta, totally Welding.
Yes, every year it's either usor you.
(04:49):
It's like that.
Well, and you can look at thetrack record right.
Yeah, we've been fortunate.
You know, the last little whilewe had great success with Ben
Rainforth.
We loved sponsoring him.
He was fantastic, yeah, andthat's a real success story.
If you can hit the podium at aWorldSkills, that is amazing.
I was in Kazan with my welderfrom Regina and he got ninth
(05:14):
Adam Sebastian and I rememberbeing like I just got a taste of
it.
Now I know, now we got to goall the way.
Now we got to get that firstplace.
And then Ben got third.
Yes, but we sponsored Benheavily because we saw, going to
Worlds and getting ninth, thatwe were happy to get ninth but
we didn't have what it takes toget higher.
Yes, you got to have anotherlevel of commitment, you do.
(05:35):
And when it came to Ben, wewere like, okay, there's got to
be money, there's got to besponsors, there's got to be
training time, there's got to beconsumables and it's got to be
training time, there's got to beconsumables and it's got to be
available to him at all times.
Yes, absolutely, we're grateful.
It needs that kind of supportand it needs the right
individual.
He was intrinsically motivated,great trainer, competitive.
We had the same expert.
Yeah, ken Heather, I meanincredibly experienced.
(05:58):
Yeah, so we were just building.
And from Red Deer Polytech,yeah, from Red Deer Polytech,
yeah, great school, absolutely.
Yeah, I think you guys are therefor your conference.
We're throwing our bigconference there in two weeks.
Yeah, we're pumped, I'll bethere.
I don't know when this is goingto air, but anyways, that's,
yeah, that's happening and I'llbe there as well.
We'll see you then.
Yeah, no, we already got 180people registered for Wel.
(06:19):
That's huge numbers.
Hopefully they all show up.
Depends on what you offer them.
All I know is that our sessionis the last session of the day,
just before the social oh man,tough spot, and we have like a
VIP party set up.
Yeah, so you know we're goingto be going on a shuttle to a
(06:40):
bar.
I got karaoke booked, dude,it's going to be a party.
But anyways, back to skills,back to skills, back to skills.
Enough of that.
Yeah, like I mean, welding isawesome.
Yeah, that's right.
So you came here with 62 peopleand out of those 62, I mean, I
know everyone wants to try theirbest and do great and
everyone's a winner.
Yeah, of course, this level isamazing.
(07:00):
Yeah, who's who do you think'sin the running for a world's job
?
Because sometimes it's thatrecurring second year or a
person, right, yes, and thensometimes it's someone who's
just coming up amazingly.
Yeah, you know our strength.
I always tell people it's woods,wheels and fire, okay, any of
those elements that are kind ofincluded in there.
We've got a potential, we'vegot a shot for, yeah, so welding
(07:23):
would be a strength of ours.
Plumbing is another one.
I include that in the firecategory because of the
soldering.
Yeah, electricals both levelsof electricals in their cabinet
making, okay, and I would loveto get back.
We've been in a bit of a dryspell and sort of on the wheels
side of it.
But, yeah, auto service, autobody, car painting, heavy
equipment I mean, my goodness,come on, I mean heavy equipment.
(07:46):
Yeah, come on bread and butter.
Alberta brought heavy equipmentto the world stage.
We should be there every singletime.
So that's, I don't know.
The mines in saskatchewan gotsomething on seeing.
This is what I like.
This is what I like betweenalberta and saskatchewan.
We're so competitive.
Yeah, we are.
You know, with this, who'sricher, you and me?
Yeah, yeah, but we push eachother right.
Yeah, that's the great thingabout this competition.
(08:07):
And it's funny because peoplefrom saskatchewan and alberta go
back and forth so freely yesthat you'll come in.
You'll run into somebody in inalberta and they'll be like, uh,
oh, yeah, you saskatchewan boys, I'm like I bet you got family
in saskatchewan.
Yep, yeah, of course, yeah, ofcourse.
Our staff team, you know, it'sjust, it's inevitable.
Right, it's inevitable.
Yeah, yeah, we're separate, butwe're All the same farming
(08:28):
communities, yeah, and a lot ofwell we share.
Lloyd, yeah, lloyd, yeah, andwe got the better half.
But that's okay, kill me here,throw me something, throw me
something.
I love Edmonton Oilers.
Dang go Oilers.
Yo, last night, beautiful, lastnight, it was wonderful, we
were the better team.
So you know, I knew that wewere going to come through that
(08:51):
series.
I appreciated the coach'scomments about the team.
Let's hope he's right that thisis a better team than last year
, because we're going to need tobe good to get through.
Yeah, yeah, we're going to needto be good to beat Florida.
Florida looks tough, I know,and like physically, they're
grinding teams down.
Yeah, I think Edmonton could doit because last year they were
too finessed.
(09:11):
They're not as finessy thisyear, it's true.
Right, they've got a little bitmore meat, more of a defensive
structure.
Yeah, they've got a little bitmore meat, they're willing to
hit a little bit at all.
I'd say, hey, I'm just, I'm justa guest, I'm just a guest,
that's.
It's 100, my fault, 100, it'sall.
(09:32):
Good, man, we're having toomuch fun, all right, okay, so
you got 62, 62 people here, 62people, yeah, you, you got them
all over the floor, you got themworking hard.
You got 100 people in total.
Yep, how do you coordinate thatmany people?
How do do you keep theminspired and motivated to not
let the nerves and the pressureand the competition get to them?
Yeah, good question.
We have a great staff team.
(09:52):
Yeah, right, so the logisticalsupport is there.
We pride ourselves on, you know, making sure that for our part,
logistically, from start tofinish, we only select them in
the first week of May.
Yeah, so it hasn't been a longtime.
No, so the turnaround is reallyquick.
So what we're trying to do whenwe have a provincial competition
is, in a lot of ways, we'retrying to set whoever's going to
(10:12):
move on up for success atnationals.
Yeah, given that we don't havea lot of time to train in
between.
So logistically, everything issound, because our team is
looking after those pieces.
We've got great coaches, we'vegot great trainers, and
throughout the year I mean everyyear, but this year in
particular, because it is aqualifying year we're impressing
upon all of our colleges,polytechnics, our network
(10:36):
schools.
We've got to bring our best andour brightest here.
Yeah, right, like we want towin, we want to perform well.
Yeah, right, I mean,everybody's a winner, yeah, but
it's still great to be on thepodium.
Yeah, podiums feel amazing,right, and so you know, we have
orientations for the, for thekids, as everybody does, right,
(11:02):
and you know we.
You know I mean no pressure,but pressure, yeah Right, this
is where you are.
I mean, the best clams are in apressure cooker, right, and
this is the experience.
Yes, this is what sets them upfor success for the rest of
their lives, absolutely Right.
And the workforce is acompetitive environment.
It is, yeah, right, and so thisis really a reflection on this
(11:27):
stuff.
Here, folks from alberta, ofcourse that are coming by saying
hi.
So you know, I mean, we'relooking for intrinsically
motivated individuals.
We never have any problems withthese people that we travel
across the country with becausethey're high achievers.
Yeah, they want to be there.
They want to be there and theywant to perform, they want to do
well, you're not fighting toget them off their cell phone or
off their Game Boy, like that'snot a thing.
No, I mean, we have theconversation, you know, and it's
(11:48):
a very short conversation,everybody adheres to it because
it's two days.
We want in their skills journey, if they've come from regional,
provincial and on a national,those two days at national.
We want those to be their best.
Yeah, absolutely, that's whatwe want, right.
And so when they reflect onthat experience, you know, when
they look back, we want them tobe proud and they, like I mean
(12:08):
they will be right, like I meanthat that cycle of of the family
, the mafia, the skills mafiaright, that's right where you
come in and as a, as acompetitor, and then you slide
into an ntc role or uh, or that,or the knack role, and then
you're kind of in the family andit's amazing how much later
then you're kind of in thefamily and it's amazing how much
later then they're theinstructors and the teachers and
(12:28):
the mentors and it becomes acyclical nature of mentorship.
Yeah, I mean, just likeapprenticeship.
Yeah, yeah, just likeapprenticeship.
When we talk to our alumni, thebiggest theme that they want
they want to be able to giveback.
Yeah, back when I started inskills and so this was early
2000s.
You know, it was reallydifficult for us to get alumni
in that top tier, those TeamCanada folks, to come back and
(12:51):
help and we just figured, ohwell, okay, because they're all
working, making money, they'reall working.
You know, once they kind of,you know, get the career settled
, you know the family settled,then maybe they'll come back.
But that has been a shift, yeah, right.
And so the last decade or so, alot of those guys and gals have
come back, yeah, to be oncommittees, provincially, and
then once you're Support andhelp, yeah, and so it's really
(13:13):
cool, it's, you know, I mean,we've seen a lot of kids come
through.
You know, collectively, youknow, across the country, all of
our skills programs, skillsprograms, yeah, right.
And so having that alumni basedsuccession planning, you know,
down the road, you know,bringing the competitive ideas
to the competition space from acompetitor's perspective, and
they can bring back what they'veseen at other competitions,
(13:34):
different years.
Things change, things advance,always evolve, all valuable,
just like industry, right, yeah,yeah, yeah, everything's
evolving.
Now you, you brought up theregionals, the, the provincials
and then often nationals.
Now Alberta is the highestcompulsory trades province in
Canada.
Trades are a backbone of theAlberta economy.
They always have been.
It's part of what Albertans areproud of in terms of the
(13:57):
quality and ability of theirworkmanship.
Now, how do you coordinate somany venues that are able to
provide viable competitors?
Because you've got a lot right.
So you're going to have a lotof people trying at regionals, a
lot of people trying atprovincials.
How do you bring that alltogether and whittle it down to
the select few?
(14:17):
Now it's partnerships to beable to structure that.
We chop the province up intonine regions and a
post-secondary or a college isthe backbone of each of those
regionals.
So the colleges and thepolytechnics are all on board.
Most of the deans sit at ourboard, so they want to open the
doors.
Right, you know, for them it'san opportunity.
(14:39):
For you know their shops to theexposure, with kids in their
shops, their faculty you know,like our technical network of
three, 350 from across theprovince, a lot of those are
faculty in there.
So the kids are coming to thecolleges first and in most of
those communities they getcaptured.
Yeah, and that college is, youknow, it's a trainer, it's an
(15:01):
employer, the significant partof each of those communities.
Yeah, absolutely Right.
So we're driving traffic there.
Trainer, it's an employer, asignificant part of each of
those communities.
Yeah, absolutely right.
So we're driving traffic there.
The kids are coming to competeand then it's like any other
competition model.
You got the venue to practicethat and train it does,
absolutely so.
We're starting to build thatrelationship as early as
possible.
Yeah, cream rises to the top.
We take the top ones on toprovincials.
This is at a secondary level.
We only do regionals at asecondary level.
(15:22):
Okay, uh, because there's somany more.
Yeah, and and and again.
They haven't quite decidedwhere they want to go in that
career journey.
So our focus really is on thatsecondary environment.
We want to try to influenceyoung people and show them the
the world of trades andtechnology.
You know work, you know, onceyou get to post-secondary, we're
(15:43):
using those guys for world'scompetition.
They got a different angle, you, betcha, you know, I mean, we
don't have any plumbingsecondary, you know, in our
province.
So I need plumbing to be shownat a post-secondary level.
But we also have an agerestriction.
So we adhere to the world'srestriction.
We're the only ones, yeah,we're the only ones in the
country that do.
And so what I like about that,and what we like philosophically
(16:06):
, is that when you come to ourcompetition, it's youth on the
floor, it's youth doing amazingthings so that young people can
see and it looks attainable,yeah, right, and they can see
the outcome ahead of them.
Yeah, totally yeah, yeah.
Now, how long have you been inthe position as ED?
2005.
So 20 years?
(16:26):
Yep, my predecessor went toWorldSkills 2009.
He was the second hire there tobe the vice president of
operations Cool, that's when wetransitioned and been with the
organization since 2001.
Okay, 24 years, a little while,little while, and it's been
amazing.
So what were you before the ed?
I, I have a media background.
(16:48):
Okay, I was gonna ask what'sthe trade or connection that
brought you into the family?
I went to Nate and I tookbroadcasting fortunate to start
in the Edmonton market, did thatfor about 10 years, was looking
for something to transition tomarketing communications.
And I was familiar with skills,because one of our founders
(17:08):
he's, he's, you know fairlyrecently passed, but he, you
know, he, that family, I'm goodfriends with his oldest son,
okay.
So you know, anytime there wasa ceremonies or whatever, he was
tapped me and go hey, would youMC?
So I have had that job a lot, Ihad a little bit of familiarity
, you know, with that side.
And then you know, as theorganization matured and they
(17:30):
went okay, we've got programmingand we've got administration.
We'd like to get intocommunication, yeah, and so
applied for communicationscoordinator role.
There I was transitioning out ofmedia and this was again back
in the early 2000s when it wasthe two aughts.
None of the socials, it wasjust radio, television and print
(17:51):
and they were looking forsomeone that could help them
with the public relations sidepredominantly, and interviewed
and the rest is history.
Now, once you came in because,like, first of all, everyone's
got their own mandate, so as anED you came in very storied,
alberta's part of the OG groupof skills what was going to be
(18:11):
your flavor?
You know you had been in thecompany four years.
Okay, you're going to be ED.
Now what is it that you wantedto bring to the table that was
new or different?
You know what when I look backfinancially?
You know what?
When I look back financially?
You know we were still ayounger organization,
incorporated in 1992.
(18:32):
You know what I mean.
So we're, you know we're stillyoung in our evolution and you
know, financially we needed afoundation from which to grow
and build.
Yeah, and we're grateful.
You know, the province ofAlberta, you know, sees
tremendous value in us and sosetting that right financial
foundation, with the province inparticular, gave us a great
(18:53):
platform to spring off of.
Yeah, you know, and now todaythere's still an incredible
partner of ours.
But we've been able to scalethe organization, you know,
significantly over the last 20,20 years, but really as a result
of that sort of foundationalsupport.
You know, we were always acompetition, uh, organization,
but we've.
We branched into so many moredifferent avenues, younger
(19:17):
audiences, well and right, whichis really important.
Programming, yes, that neverwas a thing, never.
Right now there's camps andworkshops and all that stuff.
I trade, takeout, we trademarked, you know, try a trade, you
know, before the 09 event.
So we've, you know that thatreally sort of set the state and
then you're able to build,build your team and build your
(19:37):
business, your brand.
Yeah, and knowing that you'vegot that solid financial base
and everything else, you know,you know from there has been
about opportunity, changinglandscapes.
Covid provided you know, asterrible as it was, there was a
whole lot of positivetechnologies and forms of
communication came out of it.
Yeah, that's for tri-tradetakeout came our hits and
(19:58):
distance delivered really cameout of that.
Before then we were all brickand mortar.
Everybody had to come to usright and, and that turn and
that shift, and you don't evensee how limiting that is until
you can.
So this is it.
And I don't know, maybe wenever would have come upon it.
Yeah, we wouldn't have evenknown that, we didn't know.
It's hard to say, yeah, you know, when COVID hit and it was okay
, this thing is happening andprovincials is canceled, then it
(20:23):
was, well, what can we do?
What can you do?
What can we do?
And that's when we started todo this.
Well, we've got to do something.
Yeah, well, like, why is itcanceled?
That doesn't make any sense,sounds fine to me.
Well, and even, and even, trade.
We just went look if we canbring them here, can we send
things to them?
Yeah, yeah, right, and so youknow, we're, we're proud when we
look back on those moments.
(20:43):
That was really the genesis ofthe.
Let's send it to them.
Yeah, right, and it's actuallyeasier and cheaper.
Yeah, and then we'll linktogether.
There's nothing.
There's nothing like thisthough.
Yeah, right, there's nothinglike you know, people get
getting together.
I mean the energy that is here,like you know, I don't know
people can hear the kids.
Oh, yeah, I know they hear them.
You know, and that's why welove to do the podcast here.
Yeah, which is great, is greatBecause we could do these online
(21:05):
, we could do this and think,but I want people to hear the
payoff yeah, the energy, right,and the energy, and there's
literally around us right nowlike 300 kids.
Yeah, and that's what this isabout.
Yeah, right, it's experientialand you can't get that from a
piece of paper.
You can't get that reallylooking through, try it, touch
(21:27):
it, smell it, ask all the goodquestions and the you know the.
How much can I make?
Where do I go to school?
You know, I've had so manyquestions being like what does
podcast have to do with welding?
I'm like, why not?
I'm a welder and I do a podcast?
Yeah, well, they can doanything.
Okay, right, like, any of thesetrades can go.
Yes, you never know where atrade will take you.
Yeah, well, it's, it's.
This is an incredible change,even the program.
So you know, we have TV videoproduction as one of our
(21:49):
competition areas, and so theprogram that I went through at
NAIT is, of course, at ourprovincials and it's changed
over the years.
Right, we're not, we're notjust sending people out in the
world to be radio broadcasters,and you know folks on TV, you
know we're teaching them aboutthis and this environment and
how to prepare for that.
So it's really cool.
I mean, as the world changes,training providers change.
(22:11):
Well and honestly, trainingproviders should be on the front
edge, not the back end, right?
Yeah, I know Like I mean,ideally, you want to be teaching
the newest tech, the newestprocess, the newest whatever,
right, with industry's guidance.
With industry's guidance,because they're the ones telling
you what we need.
Yes, absolutely so, in concert,in step with each other.
Right Now, I know that 20 yearsago, 25 years ago, skills when
(22:32):
it was in the infancy, there wasa lot of skills.
Banging on schools' doors, letus in.
Banging at colleges, let us in.
And it was like, hmm, guidancecounselors weren't interested,
(22:54):
teachers were like man, we gotgreat universities, you know.
But I find that now, 2025, inmost of the provinces I've
talked to.
It's flipped.
Now the colleges are coming toskills, being like bring us a
camp, bring us a program, wewant you to come in.
When can you come in?
You, are you finding the samein alberta?
Has it switched to the otherway, where it's like now you're
struggling to find time tocommit to all the things that
are asked?
That's exactly what it is.
I mean, everything is acapacity issue.
Now and again, we feel veryfortunate where we are in
(23:14):
Alberta, where this is important.
It's important for socially,financially, for our province,
and so there's a real emphasisand a real drive and we're
grateful to be a part of that.
So you're absolutely right, andso there's a real emphasis and
a real drive and we're gratefulto be a part of that Right, so
so you're absolutely right.
You know the shift has happened.
Um, if we had more, we'd beable to do more.
It's just that simple.
Yeah, it's just that simple.
(23:35):
Now, how's the growth been inyour 20 years?
Like, what was it like when youstarted versus now?
Yeah, of course, you know.
I mean, you're in borrowedoffice space somewhere.
Yeah, yeah, you know you've gota team of about five or six.
Yeah, you know, and you know,over time you come to figure out
that that space that was free,you know, is a risk, right.
(23:56):
So you branch out and you getyour first office space yeah,
and that's kind of a big step,that's right, and that builds
you a little bit more capacity.
Then you've got a sign, you'vegot a brick and mortar.
Now this is it, yeah, right.
And then you start building bitby bit.
You start adding components tothe organization.
So, early when I started, I'mthe fundraiser, I'm the
(24:17):
fundraiser for everything.
But it's not realistic.
Right, as you grow, you needprofessionals, you need people
that really know that side ofthings.
And again, we've got a great FDteam.
You know, that is there.
Yeah, that infusion of dollarsallows programming to grow and
expand Absolutely Right.
And communication to blossomRight.
And then you need moreadministration, and now you need
(24:39):
a bigger office.
Now you need a warehouse andall that communication creates
work, all that stuff.
Now you need people to do thework, right?
Well, this is it.
And on the social side I meanit used to be we do PR, we do
some media buys, but this socialside needs dedicated people
that are working this all thetime on all the different
platforms.
So you know it's.
(24:59):
You know I mean we were fivewe're double, triple the the
size now today you know I meannumbers wise we're reaching over
40 000 kids on an annual basis.
So you, you need, you need allof that in order to be able to
support all of that growth.
But it's just super cool, superfun, love being a part of it.
(25:21):
Oh for sure, we were talkingabout it all week.
You know, like how?
I think every trades person atsome point in their career could
go to a national competitionand spend the two days walking
around, pick a couple tradesmaybe not even yours and follow
them through, get invested howthey do, pick a winner at the
(25:41):
racetrack and see if they'reyour person, or cheer for your
province or whatever.
Totally, I think it's valuableon a number of levels.
Number one it's valuable tojust know that this exists,
because many people don't evenknow this is a thing, and this
is like dang Olympics, it is Notknowing what the Olympics is.
That's exactly what this is.
And then, number two is thisfills your cup.
(26:03):
You come out of this just beinglike, oh my God, just energized.
You know what I mean.
And as this, just being like,oh my god, just energized.
You know what I mean and, asyou know, in corporate world,
bureaucracy world, sometimes youstart getting beaten down by
the man and you're like, oh,phone calls and emails and
spreadsheets and blah, blah,blah.
And then you come to a coupleof these and you're like, okay,
now I know, now I know I'm doingthis.
Yeah, it just is like to seeyoung people doing these amazing
(26:25):
things, to be so accomplishedat such a young age.
Well, could you imagine I wasso dumb, like?
I was like, wow, we got to cutourselves some slack here, max,
you know what I mean?
I was 18.
We had encyclopedias to get allof our information.
I was welding at 17, so atleast I had my trade.
But you had an early start,which is great, that's the thing
.
I started early.
But, my Right, that's the thingI started early.
(26:47):
But my dad was a welder, sothat's the family thing.
My dad was like, hey, get a jobthis summer.
And I was like, oh, let's gowork at Dairy Queen, like my
friends.
And he's like, no, you're not.
I mean, yeah, some of the bestadvice you ever got.
Yeah, and I here, I am Right,yeah, executive director, and
you try to build it, but youcan't do it without the sponsors
(27:08):
and the partners that you find.
That's a big part of it Huge.
Luckily, out here in the West Iwould say, like from Manitoba
West we have no lack of greatcompanies and sponsors and a lot
of, like, large but stilllocally based companies.
Oh, yeah, smes play a huge rolein what we do and you know, I
(27:31):
mean dollars are required,dollars are necessary, but so
much.
Wheels are great, yeah, but somuch of what we do out on that
floor doesn't come from dollars.
Yeah, right, like we need, youknow, probably five, 6 million
tools, equipment and materials.
Yeah, five, six million tools,equipment and materials.
You couldn't afford to buy thatevery single year, right.
So this is all the partnershipswith the partners, the colleges
(27:52):
, right, stuff that you've beenable to secure through those
partnerships, right, tradingcenters We've got trailers full
of equipment that we have andthen the rest of it is through
partnership.
The most significant part of youknow cost for us, or sort of
that.
If you're looking at you know,dollars versus the in-kind.
The in-kind outweighs it manytimes, for sure, and it's just
(28:15):
as valuable.
I actually, when I first gotthe ed job here, yeah, we didn't
even have an in-kind concept atcwb.
Like, guys, we need to get itbecause in-kind is valuable.
They're like, well, it's notreal money.
I'm like, yeah, but it's notmoney we spent.
What are you?
You not understanding Bingo?
Like it's $500, $500.
Yeah, but $500 that I don'thave to spend is still $500.
Yes, like what are you?
It's not that complicated,absolutely.
(28:37):
That's not going to come fromanywhere and if somebody doesn't
help us with it, we'll have tospend it.
Everything is expensive.
Just last year we had a donorfrom Edmonton give us a sea can
full of electrodes.
They finished a job they hadoverordered and they have an
expiry date on them and oncethey expire they're no good for
(28:57):
industry.
But guess who loves expiredelectrodes?
Skills and training centers.
Absolutely, training centers,right?
So through our network at theCWB we actually distributed that
.
It was four and a half tons ofelectrodes all over Alberta and
Saskatchewan.
A little bit made it intoManitoba, but we ate it all up.
But a lot of it went to skillsgroups.
Right, they needed electrodes.
(29:18):
Hey, burn these up.
But this is it.
We're taking eight compressorsand refrigeration back with us
because they're incrediblyexpensive.
They're not useful to anybodyhere, so we're going to take
them back and we'll use them inour competition 100%.
We're looking for opportunitiesall the time.
That's what you've got to do.
We need capital, of course.
We need cash, we need in-kindand we need people, passionate
(29:41):
people, the volunteers, thechampions.
This thing runs on passion.
We always say you're coming onthe board, you passion.
Right.
We always say you're coming onthe board, you're coming to
volunteer, champion first.
It's a champion first mentality.
You got to love this stuffbecause this stuff is work.
Oh, yeah, it's frustrating.
Yeah, and it's not passive,right.
You're not here to stuff bags.
These are going to be longweeks.
(30:02):
You're going to love them, yeah, and you're not going to sleep
much.
No, but that's the type ofindividual that we're looking
for, and we were all thosepeople in other industries.
You don't end up in thesenot-for-profit passion jobs
without already kind of like youwere heading there.
Totally, you're on your way.
Yeah, it's just who grabbed youfirst, right?
Yeah, I mean, it's the bestthing you know for me.
(30:24):
I worked in the private sector,shift to this place and again, I
feel fortunate that we're ahave.
There are a lot of greatorganizations out there that
really struggle.
We're not one of thoseorganizations.
So I think that might be a bittough, but it's great to be
meaningful, to do great work, tohave a solid reputation, to be
(30:45):
looked at as a go-to and, if youare a have, be the leader and
show what that looks like.
Absolutely, because that's thetemplate that everyone hopes to
fall into right.
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
You bet now, in terms of your,your time that you've been with
the organization, and this islike, based off the, the idea of
the essential skills and theskills for change.
What skills have you had tolearn as ED?
(31:07):
Working with skills, writing'sthe biggest one for me, yeah,
yeah.
It's documentation, yeah,documentation, yeah, right, and
so it's a craft.
It is.
I'm not great at it.
Yeah, I'm a leader by leading.
I'm that type of a leader.
I'm very.
I like vision.
I like you know coordinatingand managing, but then someone
says, put that all into aspreadsheet.
(31:28):
I just want to like rip my eyesout of my head.
Yeah, a little bit of that too.
You know what I mean Financialmanagement.
You know what I mean Outside ofyour own budgets and you know
maybe some investment work orwhatever.
You know when you're dealingwith, you know a business and an
organization.
Your first audit?
Yeah, you know what I mean.
Asking me about who bought thegum, like I don't know, like, so
(31:51):
, financial acumen, it doesmatter, but you know, but it's
funny, you know I mean so.
But then you take that back inyour personal life as well,
right, I mean you just, you know, you just you're building
skills.
Yeah, that's it.
You're building the.
The toolbox doesn't matter whatyou do.
Yeah, and over the years, thethe more things and as things
grew and as responsibilityincreased and you pull out the
tool you need when you need it.
That's exactly it, buddy.
Yeah, and so numeracy anddocument use yes, yes, yes, yes,
(32:15):
yeah, in a big way, in a bigway, and still learning all the
time.
Yeah, now a lot of theprovinces in Canada and
territories use Alberta-basedcurriculum.
Alberta has been a leader for alot of things.
Do you find that you're kind ofalmost like competing against
things that you built yourself?
Well, that's an interestingconcept.
Actually, I hadn't even thoughtof that.
(32:37):
I mean, probably, probably.
Stop it, people.
Stop making it so damndifficult for us.
We want it back.
What do you do?
It's the competitiveenvironment, right, people are
using it, right.
Yeah, that's great Again,whatever pushes us.
Failure helps you to learn.
(32:58):
Right, it's a skills family.
Right, it's a skills family.
It's a skills family, but westill want to win.
Well, there's big brother,little brother, little sister,
family relationships, right,totally, yeah, absolutely.
We want the country to do well,but we want albert to do just a
little bit better.
Just a little bit better, justa little bit.
Are you going to be going toshanghai?
That's the the plan.
We'll see who's on the podiumson saturday.
(33:18):
Team canada yeah, you betcha,that's gonna be exciting.
Metal count team canada,because that'll be, uh, that'll
be significant for us.
I mean, fingers crossed.
I mean, you just never know howthat's going to be.
We should, we should have somepeople on the team.
We just don't know exactlywhere that's going to come from.
If my boss hears this, as I'msure he will, we're still trying
to figure out how to fundgetting to Shanghai.
So we'll figure it out.
(33:40):
We'll figure it out.
Should be there, should bethere.
I think people would love tosee an English broadcast in
Shanghai, china, but she doesn'twant to go to Shanghai, china.
I'll take someone else andwe'll be able to interview the
Team Canada.
Welder from Alberta that's inShanghai.
So it'll be amazing.
There you go, there you go,gauntlet has been drawn, all
(34:05):
right.
Last couple of questions beforewe wrap this up.
First of all, you know, as aspect spectator, put on your
spectator lenses and you'vewalked the floor, you've been
around the whole building andseen this amazing venue.
Which are your top three tradesthat you like to watch, the top
three that you like to justspectate, like if you could just
put your feet up and watch it?
Yeah, cabinet making, cabinetmaking, our painting, bar
(34:27):
painting yeah, that's what Ihaven't heard yet.
Car painting, and watch it yeah, cabinet making, cabinet making
.
Car painting, car painting yeah, that's one I haven't heard yet
.
Yeah, car painting andlandscape gardening Okay.
So landscape has been oneveryone's list, yeah, I'm sure
it is.
Baking has been on most lists,okay, yeah, there's only been
one.
Welding and one.
Car painting Okay, okay.
Someone said bricklaying too,brickling too.
Okay, that's a good one.
Yeah, the brickies are good.
(34:47):
Yeah, cabinet making I mean,any of the natural material
stuff is fascinating to me.
I would be so terrible as awelder.
Wood terrifies me, yeah, fabric, even fashion, yeah, I just
Team stress.
Yeah, I know, I just don't knowhow it all kind of comes
(35:10):
together.
It just seems so loose.
Thanks, buddy, it seems soloose.
Anyway, I don't dress myself.
Come on, somebody pick this outfor me.
This is all paid for.
Yeah, I bought and paid for it.
Yeah, there you go.
And last question If you couldstart it all over, if you could
hit that reset button, knowingeverything you know about these
trades, which one would you pick?
Now, I'm drawn to cabinet making.
(35:32):
I've always been drawn tocabinet making.
What I love about cabinetmaking is that they build a lot
of stuff without nails.
Yes, like when they just likedovetail and groove, tug and
groove what are all the termsthey have?
The piece of furniture that'smade at the end of the day and
you were in Kazan, yeah, I wasin Kazan.
You have such an appreciationwhen you get to that world's
level, yeah Right.
(35:53):
And the piece of furniture thatis done over four days?
And you know that that wouldWill last a thousand years?
Yeah, and that would take weeks.
Oh for sure Of a craftsman, youknow what I mean.
And these kids are hammering itout with hundreds of people
watching them, but by thenthey've learned to block all
that kind of stuff out.
Yeah, because Kazan was 73hectares of competition grounds.
(36:15):
Yeah, are you kidding me?
That blew my mind.
Yeah, not to get political, butI'm so glad we weren't there
when we were Right before.
I know yeah, I know I stilltalk about that.
The food was amazing, it wasgreat.
It was a super cool experience.
Everybody should go to aWorld's Absolutely, they just
should.
Your mind will be blown.
Shanghai will be amazing.
I got to get there and plus, Ilove Asian food.
(36:37):
I'm into that.
Give it to me.
I want feet sticking out of it.
Ken Heather will tell you somestories about China.
He says it's tough to get agood cup of coffee there.
I like tea.
Okay, well, whatever, I'm acoffee.
It's on my butt.
They have great beer, some ofthe best beer in the world.
(36:58):
It's fantastic.
Talk of my language.
I'm in.
We just need a competitor.
We'll figure it out.
This week I got my bets on someSaskatchewan kids.
I think they're going to be onon the podium there.
Okay for worlds.
So, uh, you know I'm I'm hopingfor it.
(37:18):
I like a team where, again,lots of alberta, um and uh, but
where everybody's got a littlepiece of the action.
Yeah, yeah, you know what Imean.
Like I like a really diverseteam, support the whole country
because it is team canada.
It's good for everybody.
Yeah, it is, it really is goodfor everybody.
When I look at Nunavut and theyhave 14 people here, I remember
when they used to have one yes,right and I interviewed oh my
(37:39):
gosh, what was his name?
He's new to us.
Yeah, he's six weeks in, sorry,sorry, but we were talking and
I was like, could you imaginehaving someone go to Worlds?
And he's like we haven't reallyeven thought about that, we're
just happy to be here.
I'm like, but what if?
Yeah, that changes everything,right, you know, it was a really
cool thing and we haven't doneit in a while, but I think we're
entertaining it again.
(38:02):
There is desire for an Americas.
So they did do them in the past.
They did, yeah, and that gaveus a chance to build a
representative team.
Yeah, so it wasn't reallynecessarily about results, it
was about representation andevery province and territory had
somebody on that team.
So in 2018, when we weretraining up for kazan, they did
do an americas for welding andit was mexico, us and canada,
(38:24):
which is cool.
We sent when we sent adam downfor the week and it was where
was that?
Was that in huntsville?
Yes, it was okay and they gotto compete against the three,
between the three countries, andthat was awesome.
And then we sent them to acompetition in australia.
Oh yes, exchange, oh yes, andyou know what.
We're not really doing thosethings anymore.
Those like inter-countrywarm-ups, like I realized that
(38:45):
post-covid money's not been thesame thing.
Like we had a lot of moneythrow around right before COVID.
It almost felt like we were atour richest ever, right before
COVID, right, and maybe we'llnever get back to that because
things have changed.
I hope we do.
I hope we do.
I think there's a way, becausethose opportunities are insanely
good.
It's massive.
You never want to send yourworld's competitor overseas jet
(39:07):
lag food, all the rest of it forthe first time going into their
competition.
Yeah, yeah, absolutely don'twant to do that.
Or send them a week early andpay for the hotels, because it
takes a couple days to get yourbearings.
It's a challenge.
And the food North Americansare picky eaters.
I hate to say it, but lots ofkids are not great at new foods,
right?
So sometimes I've seen that getto people.
(39:27):
Oh yeah, I've seen it.
Oh yeah, we in our cabinetmaker.
In Abu Dhabi there was a TimHortons and he was getting Tim
Hortons grilled three times aday.
Dude it was.
But you do what you have to dobecause you know what this means
and if that made himcomfortable, and it did, and so
we did Like, if you're going to,you know, achieve that that
(39:48):
mark right, get that medallion,get on that podium.
That's what you do.
You go to Tim Hortons yeah,that's awesome.
Yeah, you get it done.
Well, I've loved thisconversation.
Thank you so much, super fun.
Thanks, great to have you onthe show.
(40:09):
Appreciate the podcasts herethis week.
Uh, this is one of the lastones.
We got 13 in total, so if youcame into this one, first make
sure you check out all 13podcasts.
We got every province andterritory represented and it has
been such a good time.
We're going to wrap up the weekand I know we're going to do a
little bit of media social mediatomorrow with the, with the
closing ceremonies and themedals, especially, of course,
welding we're going to have oureye on.
So follow us online and checkout everything we're doing.
(40:29):
We love you and catch the nextepisode.
We hope you enjoy the show.
All right, I check, check.
Good, so I'm Max Duran.
Max Duran, cwb AssociationWelding Podcast podcast podcast.
Today we have a really coolguest welding podcast.
The show is about to begin.
(00:24):
Hello and welcome to anotheredition of the CWB Association
podcast.
My name is Max Duran and I amhere in beautiful Regina,
saskatchewan, my backyard herehosting Skills Canada Competence
.
One of the great things thatwe're doing here is we're
interviewing all the executivedirectors of the provinces and
territories, from coast to coastto coast.
Right now, I have in front ofme Chris Broughton, who is here
(00:47):
from Alberta.
How are you doing Really good.
How are you enjoying Regina?
Regina is great.
Have you been here before?
I have been here before, sofrom Edmonton, that's where our
office is.
A lot of similarities.
I like the smaller cities,Commutes and all the rest of it
drives you crazy.
So it's lovely to be in a placewhere, 15 minutes from anywhere
(01:11):
, from anywhere.
Yeah, the the travel here wasamazing.
Yeah, people super friendly,great venue.
We've had a great week.
Yeah, it's funny, I showed mystaff for a rush hour this
morning.
Yeah, there was, uh, five carsaround me.
Yeah, I know, I know I was.
Can you handle this?
From Toronto GTA, can youhandle this rush hour?
Five cars, toronto, vancouver,just numbing traffic issues.
(01:35):
No, it's been a delight.
I'm so glad that Regina hosted.
Like I said, we've had a greattime.
What do you think of the venue,these facilities, because
they're new.
You probably haven't seen thisbefore.
No, I haven't.
You know, we're fortunate.
We've got a really nice venuein Edmonton.
Calgary just built a new onetoo.
Calgary just built a new one aswell, but this one's got
(01:57):
everything you want to be underfixed structure.
Everything wants to be in here.
So it sure, everything wants tobe in here.
So it's, it's well laid out.
Yeah, everybody's got the room.
Wide walkways, beautiful, yeah,yeah, yeah, no, it's, it's
really good.
And and what I think is reallycool is is the fact that, uh,
you've got the backdrop with uh,mosaic.
Yeah, yeah, the stadium rightthere.
Last time I was here, my son wasplaying in a hockey tournament
(02:18):
and uh, yeah and uh.
So that's the last time I wasin in town, so unfortunately,
not in football season, buttonight You're going to go,
we're going to go.
Have you been to a Ryder gamebefore?
No, I haven't been to a Rydergame.
Do you like football?
I do.
I love football.
I love all sports.
I'm a sports guy.
I'm a sports guy too.
But it's a beautiful stadium,it's gorgeous.
(02:39):
We use it a lot.
Yeah, yeah, and you should,absolutely you should.
It was expensive.
They always are.
It's part of the identity ofthe city.
Yeah, it is Right, it's agovernment town, but it's also a
sports town and that RoughRider team is iconic in this
country.
It is, it is.
And I always like to compareAlberta and Saskatchewan in
terms of the two cities.
So Katuna's like Calgary andRegina's like Edmonton.
(03:01):
I always felt that I lived inEdmonton for a short while as a
welder.
Growing up, I was in the steelindustry and I worked for the
mill here, I worked for mines,and then I went to Edmonton for
a bit and it was like the samebut bigger.
Yeah, right, and I very muchgot the same vibe of blue-collar
living.
Yes, absolutely, you know.
And then you have theindustrial areas and everyone's
(03:23):
like oh, the industrial areasare ugly.
It's like I just see money.
Yeah, like, when I seerefineries, I see money.
Absolutely, like if you have arefinery in your city, your
city's probably doing okay, yeah, there's a real respect for
that in both of these places.
Yeah, they understand the valueof it, right, it's really.
Yeah, right, it's, it's really.
Braids are just woven into thesocial fabric, I think in our
(03:45):
two provinces.
Yeah, so we consider ourselvesreally fortunate to do what we
do in a place like Alberta.
Yeah, yeah.
Now, how much of a team did youbring?
What's the?
What's the contingency?
Uh, team count 62, 62competitors, uh, and then a
staff compliment on top of thatand, all told, I think we were
(04:05):
100 bodies, 100 bodies withvolunteers and mentors or
whatever else.
Yeah, you, betcha, coaches andstaff.
Team, so 62,.
That puts you at, I think,second largest team here Behind
Ontario, yeah, behind.
No, that's a lie.
Bc has 69, ontario has 60.
Okay, you guys are at 62, so Ithink you're ahead, all right.
Well, we'll see what the medalcount is tomorrow.
Well, it all matters onSaturday morning.
(04:26):
That's all that comes down toyou, betcha, you bring your big
team, we're looking for medalcount.
That's what we're looking for.
Well, and that's one thingthat's interesting that I'd like
to talk to you about, becauseit's trades that we know every
year it's either going to be usor Alberta, totally Welding.
Yes, every year it's either usor you.
(04:49):
It's like that.
Well, and you can look at thetrack record right.
Yeah, we've been fortunate.
You know, the last little whilewe had great success with Ben
Rainforth.
We loved sponsoring him.
He was fantastic, yeah, andthat's a real success story.
If you can hit the podium at aWorldSkills, that is amazing.
I was in Kazan with my welderfrom Regina and he got ninth
(05:14):
Adam Sebastian and I rememberbeing like I just got a taste of
it.
Now I know, now we got to goall the way.
Now we got to get that firstplace.
And then Ben got third.
Yes, but we sponsored Benheavily because we saw, going to
Worlds and getting ninth, thatwe were happy to get ninth but
we didn't have what it takes toget higher.
Yes, you got to have anotherlevel of commitment, you do.
(05:35):
And when it came to Ben, wewere like, okay, there's got to
be money, there's got to besponsors, there's got to be
training time, there's got to beconsumables and it's got to be
training time, there's got to beconsumables and it's got to be
available to him at all times.
Yes, absolutely, we're grateful.
It needs that kind of supportand it needs the right
individual.
He was intrinsically motivated,great trainer, competitive.
We had the same expert.
Yeah, ken Heather, I meanincredibly experienced.
(05:58):
Yeah, so we were just building.
And from Red Deer Polytech,yeah, from Red Deer Polytech,
yeah, great school, absolutely.
Yeah, I think you guys are therefor your conference.
We're throwing our bigconference there in two weeks.
Yeah, we're pumped, I'll bethere.
I don't know when this is goingto air, but anyways, that's,
yeah, that's happening and I'llbe there as well.
We'll see you then.
Yeah, no, we already got 180people registered for Wel.
(06:19):
That's huge numbers.
Hopefully they all show up.
Depends on what you offer them.
All I know is that our sessionis the last session of the day,
just before the social oh man,tough spot, and we have like a
VIP party set up.
Yeah, so you know we're goingto be going on a shuttle to a
(06:40):
bar.
I got karaoke booked, dude,it's going to be a party.
But anyways, back to skills,back to skills, back to skills.
Enough of that.
Yeah, like I mean, welding isawesome.
Yeah, that's right.
So you came here with 62 peopleand out of those 62, I mean, I
know everyone wants to try theirbest and do great and
everyone's a winner.
Yeah, of course, this level isamazing.
(07:00):
Yeah, who's who do you think'sin the running for a world's job
?
Because sometimes it's thatrecurring second year or a
person, right, yes, and thensometimes it's someone who's
just coming up amazingly.
Yeah, you know our strength.
I always tell people it's woods,wheels and fire, okay, any of
those elements that are kind ofincluded in there.
We've got a potential, we'vegot a shot for, yeah, so welding
(07:23):
would be a strength of ours.
Plumbing is another one.
I include that in the firecategory because of the
soldering.
Yeah, electricals both levelsof electricals in their cabinet
making, okay, and I would loveto get back.
We've been in a bit of a dryspell and sort of on the wheels
side of it.
But, yeah, auto service, autobody, car painting, heavy
equipment I mean, my goodness,come on, I mean heavy equipment.
(07:46):
Yeah, come on bread and butter.
Alberta brought heavy equipmentto the world stage.
We should be there every singletime.
So that's, I don't know.
The mines in saskatchewan gotsomething on seeing.
This is what I like.
This is what I like betweenalberta and saskatchewan.
We're so competitive.
Yeah, we are.
You know, with this, who'sricher, you and me?
Yeah, yeah, but we push eachother right.
Yeah, that's the great thingabout this competition.
(08:07):
And it's funny because peoplefrom saskatchewan and alberta go
back and forth so freely yesthat you'll come in.
You'll run into somebody in inalberta and they'll be like, uh,
oh, yeah, you saskatchewan boys, I'm like I bet you got family
in saskatchewan.
Yep, yeah, of course, yeah, ofcourse.
Our staff team, you know, it'sjust, it's inevitable.
Right, it's inevitable.
Yeah, yeah, we're separate, butwe're All the same farming
(08:28):
communities, yeah, and a lot ofwell we share.
Lloyd, yeah, lloyd, yeah, andwe got the better half.
But that's okay, kill me here,throw me something, throw me
something.
I love Edmonton Oilers.
Dang go Oilers.
Yo, last night, beautiful, lastnight, it was wonderful, we
were the better team.
So you know, I knew that wewere going to come through that
(08:51):
series.
I appreciated the coach'scomments about the team.
Let's hope he's right that thisis a better team than last year
, because we're going to need tobe good to get through.
Yeah, yeah, we're going to needto be good to beat Florida.
Florida looks tough, I know,and like physically, they're
grinding teams down.
Yeah, I think Edmonton could doit because last year they were
too finessed.
(09:11):
They're not as finessy thisyear, it's true.
Right, they've got a little bitmore meat, more of a defensive
structure.
Yeah, they've got a little bitmore meat, they're willing to
hit a little bit at all.
I'd say, hey, I'm just, I'm justa guest, I'm just a guest,
that's.
It's 100, my fault, 100, it'sall.
(09:32):
Good, man, we're having toomuch fun, all right, okay, so
you got 62, 62 people here, 62people, yeah, you, you got them
all over the floor, you got themworking hard.
You got 100 people in total.
Yep, how do you coordinate thatmany people?
How do do you keep theminspired and motivated to not
let the nerves and the pressureand the competition get to them?
Yeah, good question.
We have a great staff team.
(09:52):
Yeah, right, so the logisticalsupport is there.
We pride ourselves on, you know, making sure that for our part,
logistically, from start tofinish, we only select them in
the first week of May.
Yeah, so it hasn't been a longtime.
No, so the turnaround is reallyquick.
So what we're trying to do whenwe have a provincial competition
is, in a lot of ways, we'retrying to set whoever's going to
(10:12):
move on up for success atnationals.
Yeah, given that we don't havea lot of time to train in
between.
So logistically, everything issound, because our team is
looking after those pieces.
We've got great coaches, we'vegot great trainers, and
throughout the year I mean everyyear, but this year in
particular, because it is aqualifying year we're impressing
upon all of our colleges,polytechnics, our network
(10:36):
schools.
We've got to bring our best andour brightest here.
Yeah, right, like we want towin, we want to perform well.
Yeah, right, I mean,everybody's a winner, yeah, but
it's still great to be on thepodium.
Yeah, podiums feel amazing,right, and so you know, we have
orientations for the, for thekids, as everybody does, right,
(11:02):
and you know we.
You know I mean no pressure,but pressure, yeah Right, this
is where you are.
I mean, the best clams are in apressure cooker, right, and
this is the experience.
Yes, this is what sets them upfor success for the rest of
their lives, absolutely Right.
And the workforce is acompetitive environment.
It is, yeah, right, and so thisis really a reflection on this
(11:27):
stuff.
Here, folks from alberta, ofcourse that are coming by saying
hi.
So you know, I mean, we'relooking for intrinsically
motivated individuals.
We never have any problems withthese people that we travel
across the country with becausethey're high achievers.
Yeah, they want to be there.
They want to be there and theywant to perform, they want to do
well, you're not fighting toget them off their cell phone or
off their Game Boy, like that'snot a thing.
No, I mean, we have theconversation, you know, and it's
(11:48):
a very short conversation,everybody adheres to it because
it's two days.
We want in their skills journey, if they've come from regional,
provincial and on a national,those two days at national.
We want those to be their best.
Yeah, absolutely, that's whatwe want, right.
And so when they reflect onthat experience, you know, when
they look back, we want them tobe proud and they, like I mean
(12:08):
they will be right, like I meanthat that cycle of of the family
, the mafia, the skills mafiaright, that's right where you
come in and as a, as acompetitor, and then you slide
into an ntc role or uh, or that,or the knack role, and then
you're kind of in the family andit's amazing how much later
then you're kind of in thefamily and it's amazing how much
later then they're theinstructors and the teachers and
(12:28):
the mentors and it becomes acyclical nature of mentorship.
Yeah, I mean, just likeapprenticeship.
Yeah, yeah, just likeapprenticeship.
When we talk to our alumni, thebiggest theme that they want
they want to be able to giveback.
Yeah, back when I started inskills and so this was early
2000s.
You know, it was reallydifficult for us to get alumni
in that top tier, those TeamCanada folks, to come back and
(12:51):
help and we just figured, ohwell, okay, because they're all
working, making money, they'reall working.
You know, once they kind of,you know, get the career settled
, you know the family settled,then maybe they'll come back.
But that has been a shift, yeah, right.
And so the last decade or so, alot of those guys and gals have
come back, yeah, to be oncommittees, provincially, and
then once you're Support andhelp, yeah, and so it's really
(13:13):
cool, it's, you know, I mean,we've seen a lot of kids come
through.
You know, collectively, youknow, across the country, all of
our skills programs, skillsprograms, yeah, right.
And so having that alumni basedsuccession planning, you know,
down the road, you know,bringing the competitive ideas
to the competition space from acompetitor's perspective, and
they can bring back what they'veseen at other competitions,
(13:34):
different years.
Things change, things advance,always evolve, all valuable,
just like industry, right, yeah,yeah, yeah, everything's
evolving.
Now you, you brought up theregionals, the, the provincials
and then often nationals.
Now Alberta is the highestcompulsory trades province in
Canada.
Trades are a backbone of theAlberta economy.
They always have been.
It's part of what Albertans areproud of in terms of the
(13:57):
quality and ability of theirworkmanship.
Now, how do you coordinate somany venues that are able to
provide viable competitors?
Because you've got a lot right.
So you're going to have a lotof people trying at regionals, a
lot of people trying atprovincials.
How do you bring that alltogether and whittle it down to
the select few?
(14:17):
Now it's partnerships to beable to structure that.
We chop the province up intonine regions and a
post-secondary or a college isthe backbone of each of those
regionals.
So the colleges and thepolytechnics are all on board.
Most of the deans sit at ourboard, so they want to open the
doors.
Right, you know, for them it'san opportunity.
(14:39):
For you know their shops to theexposure, with kids in their
shops, their faculty you know,like our technical network of
three, 350 from across theprovince, a lot of those are
faculty in there.
So the kids are coming to thecolleges first and in most of
those communities they getcaptured.
Yeah, and that college is, youknow, it's a trainer, it's an
(15:01):
employer, the significant partof each of those communities.
Yeah, absolutely Right.
So we're driving traffic there.
Trainer, it's an employer, asignificant part of each of
those communities.
Yeah, absolutely right.
So we're driving traffic there.
The kids are coming to competeand then it's like any other
competition model.
You got the venue to practicethat and train it does,
absolutely so.
We're starting to build thatrelationship as early as
possible.
Yeah, cream rises to the top.
We take the top ones on toprovincials.
This is at a secondary level.
We only do regionals at asecondary level.
(15:22):
Okay, uh, because there's somany more.
Yeah, and and and again.
They haven't quite decidedwhere they want to go in that
career journey.
So our focus really is on thatsecondary environment.
We want to try to influenceyoung people and show them the
the world of trades andtechnology.
You know work, you know, onceyou get to post-secondary, we're
(15:43):
using those guys for world'scompetition.
They got a different angle, you, betcha, you know, I mean, we
don't have any plumbingsecondary, you know, in our
province.
So I need plumbing to be shownat a post-secondary level.
But we also have an agerestriction.
So we adhere to the world'srestriction.
We're the only ones, yeah,we're the only ones in the
country that do.
And so what I like about that,and what we like philosophically
(16:06):
, is that when you come to ourcompetition, it's youth on the
floor, it's youth doing amazingthings so that young people can
see and it looks attainable,yeah, right, and they can see
the outcome ahead of them.
Yeah, totally yeah, yeah.
Now, how long have you been inthe position as ED?
2005.
So 20 years?
(16:26):
Yep, my predecessor went toWorldSkills 2009.
He was the second hire there tobe the vice president of
operations Cool, that's when wetransitioned and been with the
organization since 2001.
Okay, 24 years, a little while,little while, and it's been
amazing.
So what were you before the ed?
I, I have a media background.
(16:48):
Okay, I was gonna ask what'sthe trade or connection that
brought you into the family?
I went to Nate and I tookbroadcasting fortunate to start
in the Edmonton market, did thatfor about 10 years, was looking
for something to transition tomarketing communications.
And I was familiar with skills,because one of our founders
(17:08):
he's, he's, you know fairlyrecently passed, but he, you
know, he, that family, I'm goodfriends with his oldest son,
okay.
So you know, anytime there wasa ceremonies or whatever, he was
tapped me and go hey, would youMC?
So I have had that job a lot, Ihad a little bit of familiarity
, you know, with that side.
And then you know, as theorganization matured and they
(17:30):
went okay, we've got programmingand we've got administration.
We'd like to get intocommunication, yeah, and so
applied for communicationscoordinator role.
There I was transitioning out ofmedia and this was again back
in the early 2000s when it wasthe two aughts.
None of the socials, it wasjust radio, television and print
(17:51):
and they were looking forsomeone that could help them
with the public relations sidepredominantly, and interviewed
and the rest is history.
Now, once you came in because,like, first of all, everyone's
got their own mandate, so as anED you came in very storied,
alberta's part of the OG groupof skills what was going to be
(18:11):
your flavor?
You know you had been in thecompany four years.
Okay, you're going to be ED.
Now what is it that you wantedto bring to the table that was
new or different?
You know what when I look backfinancially?
You know what?
When I look back financially?
You know we were still ayounger organization,
incorporated in 1992.
(18:32):
You know what I mean.
So we're, you know we're stillyoung in our evolution and you
know, financially we needed afoundation from which to grow
and build.
Yeah, and we're grateful.
You know, the province ofAlberta, you know, sees
tremendous value in us and sosetting that right financial
foundation, with the province inparticular, gave us a great
(18:53):
platform to spring off of.
Yeah, you know, and now todaythere's still an incredible
partner of ours.
But we've been able to scalethe organization, you know,
significantly over the last 20,20 years, but really as a result
of that sort of foundationalsupport.
You know, we were always acompetition, uh, organization,
but we've.
We branched into so many moredifferent avenues, younger
(19:17):
audiences, well and right, whichis really important.
Programming, yes, that neverwas a thing, never.
Right now there's camps andworkshops and all that stuff.
I trade, takeout, we trademarked, you know, try a trade, you
know, before the 09 event.
So we've, you know that thatreally sort of set the state and
then you're able to build,build your team and build your
(19:37):
business, your brand.
Yeah, and knowing that you'vegot that solid financial base
and everything else, you know,you know from there has been
about opportunity, changinglandscapes.
Covid provided you know, asterrible as it was, there was a
whole lot of positivetechnologies and forms of
communication came out of it.
Yeah, that's for tri-tradetakeout came our hits and
(19:58):
distance delivered really cameout of that.
Before then we were all brickand mortar.
Everybody had to come to usright and, and that turn and
that shift, and you don't evensee how limiting that is until
you can.
So this is it.
And I don't know, maybe wenever would have come upon it.
Yeah, we wouldn't have evenknown that, we didn't know.
It's hard to say, yeah, you know, when COVID hit and it was okay
, this thing is happening andprovincials is canceled, then it
(20:23):
was, well, what can we do?
What can you do?
What can we do?
And that's when we started todo this.
Well, we've got to do something.
Yeah, well, like, why is itcanceled?
That doesn't make any sense,sounds fine to me.
Well, and even, and even, trade.
We just went look if we canbring them here, can we send
things to them?
Yeah, yeah, right, and so youknow, we're, we're proud when we
look back on those moments.
(20:43):
That was really the genesis ofthe.
Let's send it to them.
Yeah, right, and it's actuallyeasier and cheaper.
Yeah, and then we'll linktogether.
There's nothing.
There's nothing like thisthough.
Yeah, right, there's nothinglike you know, people get
getting together.
I mean the energy that is here,like you know, I don't know
people can hear the kids.
Oh, yeah, I know they hear them.
You know, and that's why welove to do the podcast here.
Yeah, which is great, is greatBecause we could do these online
(21:05):
, we could do this and think,but I want people to hear the
payoff yeah, the energy, right,and the energy, and there's
literally around us right nowlike 300 kids.
Yeah, and that's what this isabout.
Yeah, right, it's experientialand you can't get that from a
piece of paper.
You can't get that reallylooking through, try it, touch
(21:27):
it, smell it, ask all the goodquestions and the you know the.
How much can I make?
Where do I go to school?
You know, I've had so manyquestions being like what does
podcast have to do with welding?
I'm like, why not?
I'm a welder and I do a podcast?
Yeah, well, they can doanything.
Okay, right, like, any of thesetrades can go.
Yes, you never know where atrade will take you.
Yeah, well, it's, it's.
This is an incredible change,even the program.
So you know, we have TV videoproduction as one of our
(21:49):
competition areas, and so theprogram that I went through at
NAIT is, of course, at ourprovincials and it's changed
over the years.
Right, we're not, we're notjust sending people out in the
world to be radio broadcasters,and you know folks on TV, you
know we're teaching them aboutthis and this environment and
how to prepare for that.
So it's really cool.
I mean, as the world changes,training providers change.
(22:11):
Well and honestly, trainingproviders should be on the front
edge, not the back end, right?
Yeah, I know Like I mean,ideally, you want to be teaching
the newest tech, the newestprocess, the newest whatever,
right, with industry's guidance.
With industry's guidance,because they're the ones telling
you what we need.
Yes, absolutely so, in concert,in step with each other.
Right Now, I know that 20 yearsago, 25 years ago, skills when
(22:32):
it was in the infancy, there wasa lot of skills.
Banging on schools' doors, letus in.
Banging at colleges, let us in.
And it was like, hmm, guidancecounselors weren't interested,
(22:54):
teachers were like man, we gotgreat universities, you know.
But I find that now, 2025, inmost of the provinces I've
talked to.
It's flipped.
Now the colleges are coming toskills, being like bring us a
camp, bring us a program, wewant you to come in.
When can you come in?
You, are you finding the samein alberta?
Has it switched to the otherway, where it's like now you're
struggling to find time tocommit to all the things that
are asked?
That's exactly what it is.
I mean, everything is acapacity issue.
Now and again, we feel veryfortunate where we are in
(23:14):
Alberta, where this is important.
It's important for socially,financially, for our province,
and so there's a real emphasisand a real drive and we're
grateful to be a part of that.
So you're absolutely right, andso there's a real emphasis and
a real drive and we're gratefulto be a part of that Right, so
so you're absolutely right.
You know the shift has happened.
Um, if we had more, we'd beable to do more.
It's just that simple.
Yeah, it's just that simple.
(23:35):
Now, how's the growth been inyour 20 years?
Like, what was it like when youstarted versus now?
Yeah, of course, you know.
I mean, you're in borrowedoffice space somewhere.
Yeah, yeah, you know you've gota team of about five or six.
Yeah, you know, and you know,over time you come to figure out
that that space that was free,you know, is a risk, right.
(23:56):
So you branch out and you getyour first office space yeah,
and that's kind of a big step,that's right, and that builds
you a little bit more capacity.
Then you've got a sign, you'vegot a brick and mortar.
Now this is it, yeah, right.
And then you start building bitby bit.
You start adding components tothe organization.
So, early when I started, I'mthe fundraiser, I'm the
(24:17):
fundraiser for everything.
But it's not realistic.
Right, as you grow, you needprofessionals, you need people
that really know that side ofthings.
And again, we've got a great FDteam.
You know, that is there.
Yeah, that infusion of dollarsallows programming to grow and
expand Absolutely Right.
And communication to blossomRight.
And then you need moreadministration, and now you need
(24:39):
a bigger office.
Now you need a warehouse andall that communication creates
work, all that stuff.
Now you need people to do thework, right?
Well, this is it.
And on the social side I meanit used to be we do PR, we do
some media buys, but this socialside needs dedicated people
that are working this all thetime on all the different
platforms.
So you know it's.
(24:59):
You know I mean we were fivewe're double, triple the the
size now today you know I meannumbers wise we're reaching over
40 000 kids on an annual basis.
So you, you need, you need allof that in order to be able to
support all of that growth.
But it's just super cool, superfun, love being a part of it.
(25:21):
Oh for sure, we were talkingabout it all week.
You know, like how?
I think every trades person atsome point in their career could
go to a national competitionand spend the two days walking
around, pick a couple tradesmaybe not even yours and follow
them through, get invested howthey do, pick a winner at the
(25:41):
racetrack and see if they'reyour person, or cheer for your
province or whatever.
Totally, I think it's valuableon a number of levels.
Number one it's valuable tojust know that this exists,
because many people don't evenknow this is a thing, and this
is like dang Olympics, it is Notknowing what the Olympics is.
That's exactly what this is.
And then, number two is thisfills your cup.
(26:03):
You come out of this just beinglike, oh my God, just energized.
You know what I mean.
And as this, just being like,oh my god, just energized.
You know what I mean and, asyou know, in corporate world,
bureaucracy world, sometimes youstart getting beaten down by
the man and you're like, oh,phone calls and emails and
spreadsheets and blah, blah,blah.
And then you come to a coupleof these and you're like, okay,
now I know, now I know I'm doingthis.
Yeah, it just is like to seeyoung people doing these amazing
(26:25):
things, to be so accomplishedat such a young age.
Well, could you imagine I wasso dumb, like?
I was like, wow, we got to cutourselves some slack here, max,
you know what I mean?
I was 18.
We had encyclopedias to get allof our information.
I was welding at 17, so atleast I had my trade.
But you had an early start,which is great, that's the thing
.
I started early.
But, my Right, that's the thingI started early.
(26:47):
But my dad was a welder, sothat's the family thing.
My dad was like, hey, get a jobthis summer.
And I was like, oh, let's gowork at Dairy Queen, like my
friends.
And he's like, no, you're not.
I mean, yeah, some of the bestadvice you ever got.
Yeah, and I here, I am Right,yeah, executive director, and
you try to build it, but youcan't do it without the sponsors
(27:08):
and the partners that you find.
That's a big part of it Huge.
Luckily, out here in the West Iwould say, like from Manitoba
West we have no lack of greatcompanies and sponsors and a lot
of, like, large but stilllocally based companies.
Oh, yeah, smes play a huge rolein what we do and you know, I
(27:31):
mean dollars are required,dollars are necessary, but so
much.
Wheels are great, yeah, but somuch of what we do out on that
floor doesn't come from dollars.
Yeah, right, like we need, youknow, probably five, 6 million
tools, equipment and materials.
Yeah, five, six million tools,equipment and materials.
You couldn't afford to buy thatevery single year, right.
So this is all the partnershipswith the partners, the colleges
(27:52):
, right, stuff that you've beenable to secure through those
partnerships, right, tradingcenters We've got trailers full
of equipment that we have andthen the rest of it is through
partnership.
The most significant part of youknow cost for us, or sort of
that.
If you're looking at you know,dollars versus the in-kind.
The in-kind outweighs it manytimes, for sure, and it's just
(28:15):
as valuable.
I actually, when I first gotthe ed job here, yeah, we didn't
even have an in-kind concept atcwb.
Like, guys, we need to get itbecause in-kind is valuable.
They're like, well, it's notreal money.
I'm like, yeah, but it's notmoney we spent.
What are you?
You not understanding Bingo?
Like it's $500, $500.
Yeah, but $500 that I don'thave to spend is still $500.
Yes, like what are you?
It's not that complicated,absolutely.
(28:37):
That's not going to come fromanywhere and if somebody doesn't
help us with it, we'll have tospend it.
Everything is expensive.
Just last year we had a donorfrom Edmonton give us a sea can
full of electrodes.
They finished a job they hadoverordered and they have an
expiry date on them and oncethey expire they're no good for
(28:57):
industry.
But guess who loves expiredelectrodes?
Skills and training centers.
Absolutely, training centers,right?
So through our network at theCWB we actually distributed that
.
It was four and a half tons ofelectrodes all over Alberta and
Saskatchewan.
A little bit made it intoManitoba, but we ate it all up.
But a lot of it went to skillsgroups.
Right, they needed electrodes.
(29:18):
Hey, burn these up.
But this is it.
We're taking eight compressorsand refrigeration back with us
because they're incrediblyexpensive.
They're not useful to anybodyhere, so we're going to take
them back and we'll use them inour competition 100%.
We're looking for opportunitiesall the time.
That's what you've got to do.
We need capital, of course.
We need cash, we need in-kindand we need people, passionate
(29:41):
people, the volunteers, thechampions.
This thing runs on passion.
We always say you're coming onthe board, you passion.
Right.
We always say you're coming onthe board, you're coming to
volunteer, champion first.
It's a champion first mentality.
You got to love this stuffbecause this stuff is work.
Oh, yeah, it's frustrating.
Yeah, and it's not passive,right.
You're not here to stuff bags.
These are going to be longweeks.
(30:02):
You're going to love them, yeah, and you're not going to sleep
much.
No, but that's the type ofindividual that we're looking
for, and we were all thosepeople in other industries.
You don't end up in thesenot-for-profit passion jobs
without already kind of like youwere heading there.
Totally, you're on your way.
Yeah, it's just who grabbed youfirst, right?
Yeah, I mean, it's the bestthing you know for me.
(30:24):
I worked in the private sector,shift to this place and again, I
feel fortunate that we're ahave.
There are a lot of greatorganizations out there that
really struggle.
We're not one of thoseorganizations.
So I think that might be a bittough, but it's great to be
meaningful, to do great work, tohave a solid reputation, to be
(30:45):
looked at as a go-to and, if youare a have, be the leader and
show what that looks like.
Absolutely, because that's thetemplate that everyone hopes to
fall into right.
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
You bet now, in terms of your,your time that you've been with
the organization, and this islike, based off the, the idea of
the essential skills and theskills for change.
What skills have you had tolearn as ED?
(31:07):
Working with skills, writing'sthe biggest one for me, yeah,
yeah.
It's documentation, yeah,documentation, yeah, right, and
so it's a craft.
It is.
I'm not great at it.
Yeah, I'm a leader by leading.
I'm that type of a leader.
I'm very.
I like vision.
I like you know coordinatingand managing, but then someone
says, put that all into aspreadsheet.
(31:28):
I just want to like rip my eyesout of my head.
Yeah, a little bit of that too.
You know what I mean Financialmanagement.
You know what I mean Outside ofyour own budgets and you know
maybe some investment work orwhatever.
You know when you're dealingwith, you know a business and an
organization.
Your first audit?
Yeah, you know what I mean.
Asking me about who bought thegum, like I don't know, like, so
(31:51):
, financial acumen, it doesmatter, but you know, but it's
funny, you know I mean so.
But then you take that back inyour personal life as well,
right, I mean you just, you know, you just you're building
skills.
Yeah, that's it.
You're building the.
The toolbox doesn't matter whatyou do.
Yeah, and over the years, thethe more things and as things
grew and as responsibilityincreased and you pull out the
tool you need when you need it.
That's exactly it, buddy.
Yeah, and so numeracy anddocument use yes, yes, yes, yes,
(32:15):
yeah, in a big way, in a bigway, and still learning all the
time.
Yeah, now a lot of theprovinces in Canada and
territories use Alberta-basedcurriculum.
Alberta has been a leader for alot of things.
Do you find that you're kind ofalmost like competing against
things that you built yourself?
Well, that's an interestingconcept.
Actually, I hadn't even thoughtof that.
(32:37):
I mean, probably, probably.
Stop it, people.
Stop making it so damndifficult for us.
We want it back.
What do you do?
It's the competitiveenvironment, right, people are
using it, right.
Yeah, that's great Again,whatever pushes us.
Failure helps you to learn.
(32:58):
Right, it's a skills family.
Right, it's a skills family.
It's a skills family, but westill want to win.
Well, there's big brother,little brother, little sister,
family relationships, right,totally, yeah, absolutely.
We want the country to do well,but we want albert to do just a
little bit better.
Just a little bit better, justa little bit.
Are you going to be going toshanghai?
That's the the plan.
We'll see who's on the podiumson saturday.
(33:18):
Team canada yeah, you betcha,that's gonna be exciting.
Metal count team canada,because that'll be, uh, that'll
be significant for us.
I mean, fingers crossed.
I mean, you just never know howthat's going to be.
We should, we should have somepeople on the team.
We just don't know exactlywhere that's going to come from.
If my boss hears this, as I'msure he will, we're still trying
to figure out how to fundgetting to Shanghai.
So we'll figure it out.
(33:40):
We'll figure it out.
Should be there, should bethere.
I think people would love tosee an English broadcast in
Shanghai, china, but she doesn'twant to go to Shanghai, china.
I'll take someone else andwe'll be able to interview the
Team Canada.
Welder from Alberta that's inShanghai.
So it'll be amazing.
There you go, there you go,gauntlet has been drawn, all
(34:05):
right.
Last couple of questions beforewe wrap this up.
First of all, you know, as aspect spectator, put on your
spectator lenses and you'vewalked the floor, you've been
around the whole building andseen this amazing venue.
Which are your top three tradesthat you like to watch, the top
three that you like to justspectate, like if you could just
put your feet up and watch it?
Yeah, cabinet making, cabinetmaking, our painting, bar
(34:27):
painting yeah, that's what Ihaven't heard yet.
Car painting, and watch it yeah, cabinet making, cabinet making
.
Car painting, car painting yeah, that's one I haven't heard yet
.
Yeah, car painting andlandscape gardening Okay.
So landscape has been oneveryone's list, yeah, I'm sure
it is.
Baking has been on most lists,okay, yeah, there's only been
one.
Welding and one.
Car painting Okay, okay.
Someone said bricklaying too,brickling too.
Okay, that's a good one.
Yeah, the brickies are good.
(34:47):
Yeah, cabinet making I mean,any of the natural material
stuff is fascinating to me.
I would be so terrible as awelder.
Wood terrifies me, yeah, fabric, even fashion, yeah, I just
Team stress.
Yeah, I know, I just don't knowhow it all kind of comes
(35:10):
together.
It just seems so loose.
Thanks, buddy, it seems soloose.
Anyway, I don't dress myself.
Come on, somebody pick this outfor me.
This is all paid for.
Yeah, I bought and paid for it.
Yeah, there you go.
And last question If you couldstart it all over, if you could
hit that reset button, knowingeverything you know about these
trades, which one would you pick?
Now, I'm drawn to cabinet making.
(35:32):
I've always been drawn tocabinet making.
What I love about cabinetmaking is that they build a lot
of stuff without nails.
Yes, like when they just likedovetail and groove, tug and
groove what are all the termsthey have?
The piece of furniture that'smade at the end of the day and
you were in Kazan, yeah, I wasin Kazan.
You have such an appreciationwhen you get to that world's
level, yeah Right.
(35:53):
And the piece of furniture thatis done over four days?
And you know that that wouldWill last a thousand years?
Yeah, and that would take weeks.
Oh for sure Of a craftsman, youknow what I mean.
And these kids are hammering itout with hundreds of people
watching them, but by thenthey've learned to block all
that kind of stuff out.
Yeah, because Kazan was 73hectares of competition grounds.
(36:15):
Yeah, are you kidding me?
That blew my mind.
Yeah, not to get political, butI'm so glad we weren't there
when we were Right before.
I know yeah, I know I stilltalk about that.
The food was amazing, it wasgreat.
It was a super cool experience.
Everybody should go to aWorld's Absolutely, they just
should.
Your mind will be blown.
Shanghai will be amazing.
I got to get there and plus, Ilove Asian food.
(36:37):
I'm into that.
Give it to me.
I want feet sticking out of it.
Ken Heather will tell you somestories about China.
He says it's tough to get agood cup of coffee there.
I like tea.
Okay, well, whatever, I'm acoffee.
It's on my butt.
They have great beer, some ofthe best beer in the world.
(36:58):
It's fantastic.
Talk of my language.
I'm in.
We just need a competitor.
We'll figure it out.
This week I got my bets on someSaskatchewan kids.
I think they're going to be onon the podium there.
Okay for worlds.
So, uh, you know I'm I'm hopingfor it.
(37:18):
I like a team where, again,lots of alberta, um and uh, but
where everybody's got a littlepiece of the action.
Yeah, yeah, you know what Imean.
Like I like a really diverseteam, support the whole country
because it is team canada.
It's good for everybody.
Yeah, it is, it really is goodfor everybody.
When I look at Nunavut and theyhave 14 people here, I remember
when they used to have one yes,right and I interviewed oh my
(37:39):
gosh, what was his name?
He's new to us.
Yeah, he's six weeks in, sorry,sorry, but we were talking and
I was like, could you imaginehaving someone go to Worlds?
And he's like we haven't reallyeven thought about that, we're
just happy to be here.
I'm like, but what if?
Yeah, that changes everything,right, you know, it was a really
cool thing and we haven't doneit in a while, but I think we're
entertaining it again.
(38:02):
There is desire for an Americas.
So they did do them in the past.
They did, yeah, and that gaveus a chance to build a
representative team.
Yeah, so it wasn't reallynecessarily about results, it
was about representation andevery province and territory had
somebody on that team.
So in 2018, when we weretraining up for kazan, they did
do an americas for welding andit was mexico, us and canada,
(38:24):
which is cool.
We sent when we sent adam downfor the week and it was where
was that?
Was that in huntsville?
Yes, it was okay and they gotto compete against the three,
between the three countries, andthat was awesome.
And then we sent them to acompetition in australia.
Oh yes, exchange, oh yes, andyou know what.
We're not really doing thosethings anymore.
Those like inter-countrywarm-ups, like I realized that
(38:45):
post-covid money's not been thesame thing.
Like we had a lot of moneythrow around right before COVID.
It almost felt like we were atour richest ever, right before
COVID, right, and maybe we'llnever get back to that because
things have changed.
I hope we do.
I hope we do.
I think there's a way, becausethose opportunities are insanely
good.
It's massive.
You never want to send yourworld's competitor overseas jet
(39:07):
lag food, all the rest of it forthe first time going into their
competition.
Yeah, yeah, absolutely don'twant to do that.
Or send them a week early andpay for the hotels, because it
takes a couple days to get yourbearings.
It's a challenge.
And the food North Americansare picky eaters.
I hate to say it, but lots ofkids are not great at new foods,
right?
So sometimes I've seen that getto people.
(39:27):
Oh yeah, I've seen it.
Oh yeah, we in our cabinetmaker.
In Abu Dhabi there was a TimHortons and he was getting Tim
Hortons grilled three times aday.
Dude it was.
But you do what you have to dobecause you know what this means
and if that made himcomfortable, and it did, and so
we did Like, if you're going to,you know, achieve that that
(39:48):
mark right, get that medallion,get on that podium.
That's what you do.
You go to Tim Hortons yeah,that's awesome.
Yeah, you get it done.
Well, I've loved thisconversation.
Thank you so much, super fun.
Thanks, great to have you onthe show.
(40:09):
Appreciate the podcasts herethis week.
Uh, this is one of the lastones.
We got 13 in total, so if youcame into this one, first make
sure you check out all 13podcasts.
We got every province andterritory represented and it has
been such a good time.
We're going to wrap up the weekand I know we're going to do a
little bit of media social mediatomorrow with the, with the
closing ceremonies and themedals, especially, of course,
welding we're going to have oureye on.
So follow us online and checkout everything we're doing.
(40:29):
We love you and catch the nextepisode.
We hope you enjoy the show.
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