The CWB Association Welding Podcast
The CWB Association Welding Podcast
Skills Canada Series - Season 3 - Episode 12 with Chris Browton
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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All right, I check, check. Good, so I'm Max Duran. Max Duran, cwb Association Welding Podcast podcast podcast. Today we have a really cool guest welding podcast. The show is about to begin.
Speaker 1:Hello and welcome to another edition of the CWB Association podcast. My name is Max Duran and I am here in beautiful Regina, saskatchewan, my backyard here hosting Skills Canada Competence. One of the great things that we're doing here is we're interviewing all the executive directors of the provinces and territories, from coast to coast to coast. Right now, I have in front of me Chris Broughton, who is here from Alberta. How are you doing Really good. How are you enjoying Regina?
Speaker 1:Regina is great. Have you been here before? I have been here before, so from 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 place where, 15 minutes from anywhere, from anywhere. Yeah, the the travel here was amazing. Yeah, people super friendly, great venue. We've had a great week. Yeah, it's funny, I showed my staff for a rush hour this morning. Yeah, there was, uh, five cars around me. Yeah, I know, I know I was. Can you handle this? From Toronto GTA, can you handle this rush hour? Five cars, toronto, vancouver, just numbing traffic issues. No, it's been a delight. I'm so glad that Regina hosted. Like I said, we've had a great time.
Speaker 1:What do you think of the venue, these facilities, because they're new. You probably haven't seen this before. No, I haven't. You know, we're fortunate. We've got a really nice venue in Edmonton. Calgary just built a new one too. Calgary just built a new one as well, but this one's got everything you want to be under fixed structure. Everything wants to be in here. So it sure, everything wants to be 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 really cool is is the fact that, uh, you've got the backdrop with uh, mosaic. Yeah, yeah, the stadium right there.
Speaker 1:Last time I was here, my son was playing in a hockey tournament and uh, yeah and uh. So that's the last time I was in in town, so unfortunately, not in football season, but tonight You're going to go, we're going to go. Have you been to a Ryder game before? No, I haven't been to a Ryder game. 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. 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 of the city. Yeah, it is Right, it's a government town, but it's also a sports town and that Rough Rider team is iconic in this country. It is, it is.
Speaker 1:And I always like to compare Alberta and Saskatchewan in terms of the two cities. So Katuna's like Calgary and Regina's like Edmonton. I always felt that I lived in Edmonton for a short while as a welder. Growing up, I was in the steel industry 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 same but bigger. Yeah, right, and I very much got the same vibe of blue-collar living. Yes, absolutely, you know. And then you have the industrial areas and everyone's like oh, the industrial areas are ugly. It's like I just see money. Yeah, like, when I see refineries, I see money. Absolutely, like if you have a refinery 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 value of it, right, it's really. Yeah, right, it's, it's really. Braids are just woven into the social fabric, I think in our two provinces. Yeah, so we consider ourselves really fortunate to do what we do in a place like Alberta. Yeah, yeah.
Speaker 1:Now, how much of a team did you bring? What's the? What's the contingency? Uh, team count 62, 62 competitors, uh, and then a staff compliment on top of that and, all told, I think we were 100 bodies, 100 bodies with volunteers and mentors or whatever else. Yeah, you, betcha, coaches and staff. 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 I think you're ahead, all right. Well, we'll see what the medal count is tomorrow. Well, it all matters on Saturday morning. That's all that comes down to you, betcha, you bring your big team, we're looking for medal count. That's what we're looking for.
Speaker 1:Well, and that's one thing that's interesting that I'd like to talk to you about, because it's trades that we know every year it's either going to be us or Alberta, totally Welding. Yes, every year it's either us or you. It's like that. Well, and you can look at the track record right. Yeah, we've been fortunate.
Speaker 1:You know, the last little while we had great success with Ben Rainforth. We loved sponsoring him. He was fantastic, yeah, and that's a real success story. If you can hit the podium at a WorldSkills, that is amazing. I was in Kazan with my welder from Regina and he got ninth Adam Sebastian and I remember being like I just got a taste of it. Now I know, now we got to go all the way. Now we got to get that first place. And then Ben got third. Yes, but we sponsored Ben heavily because we saw, going to Worlds and getting ninth, that we were happy to get ninth but we didn't have what it takes to get higher.
Speaker 1:Yes, you got to have another level of commitment, you do. And when it came to Ben, we were like, okay, there's got to be money, there's got to be sponsors, there's got to be training time, there's got to be consumables and it's got to be training time, there's got to be consumables and it's got to be available to him at all times. Yes, absolutely, we're grateful. It needs that kind of support and it needs the right individual. He was intrinsically motivated, great trainer, competitive. We had the same expert. Yeah, ken Heather, I mean incredibly experienced. Yeah, so we were just building. And from Red Deer Polytech, yeah, from Red Deer Polytech, yeah, great school, absolutely.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I think you guys are there for your conference. We're throwing our big conference there in two weeks. Yeah, we're pumped, I'll be there. I don't know when this is going to air, but anyways, that's, yeah, that's happening and I'll be there as well. We'll see you then. Yeah, no, we already got 180 people registered for Wel. That's huge numbers. Hopefully they all show up. Depends on what you offer them. All I know is that our session is 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 going to be going on a shuttle to a bar. I got karaoke booked, dude, it's going to be a party.
Speaker 1:But anyways, back to skills, back to skills, back to skills. Enough of that. Yeah, like I mean, welding is awesome. Yeah, that's right. So you came here with 62 people and out of those 62, I mean, I know everyone wants to try their best and do great and everyone's a winner. Yeah, of course, this level is amazing. Yeah, who's who do you think's in the running for a world's job? Because sometimes it's that recurring second year or a person, right, yes, and then sometimes it's someone who's just coming up amazingly. Yeah, you know our strength.
Speaker 1:I always tell people it's woods, wheels and fire, okay, any of those elements that are kind of included in there. We've got a potential, we've got a shot for, yeah, so welding would be a strength of ours. Plumbing is another one. I include that in the fire category because of the soldering. Yeah, electricals both levels of electricals in their cabinet making, okay, and I would love to get back. We've been in a bit of a dry spell and sort of on the wheels side of it. But, yeah, auto service, auto body, car painting, heavy equipment I mean, my goodness, come on, I mean heavy equipment. Yeah, come on bread and butter. Alberta brought heavy equipment to the world stage. We should be there every single time. So that's, I don't know.
Speaker 1:The mines in saskatchewan got something on seeing. This is what I like. This is what I like between alberta and saskatchewan. We're so competitive. Yeah, we are. You know, with this, who's richer, you and me? Yeah, yeah, but we push each other right. Yeah, that's the great thing about this competition. And it's funny because people from saskatchewan and alberta go back and forth so freely yes that you'll come in. You'll run into somebody in in alberta 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, of course.
Speaker 1:Our staff team, you know, it's just, it's inevitable. Right, it's inevitable. Yeah, yeah, we're separate, but we're All the same farming communities, yeah, and a lot of well we share. Lloyd, yeah, lloyd, yeah, and we 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, last night, it was wonderful, we were the better team. So you know, I knew that we were going to come through that series.
Speaker 1:I appreciated the coach's comments about the team. Let's hope he's right that this is a better team than last year, because we're going to need to be good to get through. Yeah, yeah, we're going to need to be good to beat Florida. Florida looks tough, I know, and like physically, they're grinding teams down. Yeah, I think Edmonton could do it because last year they were too finessed. They're not as finessy this year, it's true. Right, they've got a little bit more meat, more of a defensive structure. Yeah, they've got a little bit more meat, they're willing to hit a little bit at all.
Speaker 1:I'd say, hey, I'm just, I'm just a guest, I'm just a guest, that's. It's 100, my fault, 100, it's all. Good, man, we're having too much fun, all right, okay, so you got 62, 62 people here, 62 people, yeah, you, you got them all over the floor, you got them working hard. You got 100 people in total. Yep, how do you coordinate that many people? How do do you keep them inspired and motivated to not let the nerves and the pressure and the competition get to them? Yeah, good question.
Speaker 1:We have a great staff team. Yeah, right, so the logistical support is there. We pride ourselves on, you know, making sure that for our part, logistically, from start to finish, we only select them in the first week of May. Yeah, so it hasn't been a long time. No, so the turnaround is really quick.
Speaker 1:So what we're trying to do when we have a provincial competition is, in a lot of ways, we're trying to set whoever's going to move on up for success at nationals. Yeah, given that we don't have a lot of time to train in between. So logistically, everything is sound, because our team is looking after those pieces. We've got great coaches, we've got great trainers, and throughout the year I mean every year, but this year in particular, because it is a qualifying year we're impressing upon all of our colleges, polytechnics, our network schools.
Speaker 1:We've got to bring our best and our brightest here. Yeah, right, like we want to win, we want to perform well. Yeah, right, I mean, everybody's a winner, yeah, but it's still great to be on the podium. Yeah, podiums feel amazing, right, and so you know, we have orientations for the, for the kids, as everybody does, right, 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 a pressure cooker, right, and this is the experience. Yes, this is what sets them up for success for the rest of their lives, absolutely Right.
Speaker 1:And the workforce is a competitive environment. It is, yeah, right, and so this is really a reflection on this stuff. Here, folks from alberta, of course that are coming by saying hi. So you know, I mean, we're looking for intrinsically motivated individuals. We never have any problems with these people that we travel across the country with because they're high achievers. Yeah, they want to be there. They want to be there and they want to perform, they want to do well, you're not fighting to get them off their cell phone or off their Game Boy, like that's not a thing. No, I mean, we have the conversation, you know, and it's 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 what we want, right. And so when they reflect on that experience, you know, when they look back, we want them to be proud and they, like I mean they will be right, like I mean that that cycle of of the family, the mafia, the skills mafia right, that's right where you come in and as a, as a competitor, 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 and it's amazing how much later then you're kind of in the family and it's amazing how much later then they're the instructors and the teachers and the mentors and it becomes a cyclical nature of mentorship. Yeah, I mean, just like apprenticeship. Yeah, yeah, just like apprenticeship.
Speaker 1:When we talk to our alumni, the biggest theme that they want they want to be able to give back. Yeah, back when I started in skills and so this was early 2000s. You know, it was really difficult for us to get alumni in that top tier, those Team Canada folks, to come back and help and we just figured, oh well, okay, because they're all working, making money, they're all 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, a lot of those guys and gals have come back, yeah, to be on committees, provincially, and then once you're Support and help, yeah, and so it's really cool, it's, you know, I mean, we've seen a lot of kids come through. You know, collectively, you know, across the country, all of our skills programs, skills programs, yeah, right. And so having that alumni based succession planning, you know, down the road, you know, bringing the competitive ideas to the competition space from a competitor's perspective, and they can bring back what they've seen at other competitions, different years. Things change, things advance, always evolve, all valuable, just like industry, right, yeah, yeah, yeah, everything's evolving.
Speaker 1:Now you, you brought up the regionals, the, the provincials and then often nationals. Now Alberta is the highest compulsory trades province in Canada. Trades are a backbone of the Alberta economy. They always have been. It's part of what Albertans are proud of in terms of the quality and ability of their workmanship. Now, how do you coordinate so many venues that are able to provide viable competitors? Because you've got a lot right. So you're going to have a lot of people trying at regionals, a lot of people trying at provincials. How do you bring that all together and whittle it down to the select few? Now it's partnerships to be able to structure that.
Speaker 1:We chop the province up into nine regions and a post-secondary or a college is the backbone of each of those regionals. So the colleges and the polytechnics are all on board. Most of the deans sit at our board, so they want to open the doors. Right, you know, for them it's an opportunity. For you know their shops to the exposure, with kids in their shops, their faculty you know, like our technical network of three, 350 from across the province, a lot of those are faculty in there. So the kids are coming to the colleges first and in most of those communities they get captured. Yeah, and that college is, you know, it's a trainer, it's an employer, the significant part of each of those communities. Yeah, absolutely Right. So we're driving traffic there. Trainer, it's an employer, a significant part of each of those communities. Yeah, absolutely right. So we're driving traffic there.
Speaker 1:The kids are coming to compete and then it's like any other competition model. You got the venue to practice that and train it does, absolutely so. We're starting to build that relationship as early as possible. Yeah, cream rises to the top. We take the top ones on to provincials.
Speaker 1:This is at a secondary level. We only do regionals at a secondary level. Okay, uh, because there's so many more. Yeah, and and and again. They haven't quite decided where they want to go in that career journey. So our focus really is on that secondary environment. We want to try to influence young people and show them the the world of trades and technology. You know work, you know, once you get to post-secondary, we're using those guys for world's competition. They got a different angle, you, betcha, you know, I mean, we don't have any plumbing secondary, you know, in our province. So I need plumbing to be shown at a post-secondary level. But we also have an age restriction. So we adhere to the world's restriction. 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, is that when you come to our competition, it's youth on the floor, it's youth doing amazing things 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.
Speaker 1:Now, how long have you been in the position as ED? 2005. So 20 years? Yep, my predecessor went to WorldSkills 2009. He was the second hire there to be the vice president of operations Cool, that's when we transitioned and been with the organization since 2001. Okay, 24 years, a little while, little while, and it's been amazing.
Speaker 1:So what were you before the ed? I, I have a media background. Okay, I was gonna ask what's the trade or connection that brought you into the family? I went to Nate and I took broadcasting fortunate to start in the Edmonton market, did that for about 10 years, was looking for something to transition to marketing communications. And I was familiar with skills, because one of our founders he's, he's, you know fairly recently passed, but he, you know, he, that family, I'm good friends with his oldest son, okay. So you know, anytime there was a ceremonies or whatever, he was tapped me and go hey, would you MC? So I have had that job a lot, I had a little bit of familiarity, you know, with that side. And then you know, as the organization matured and they went okay, we've got programming and we've got administration. We'd like to get into communication, yeah, and so applied for communications coordinator role.
Speaker 1:There I was transitioning out of media and this was again back in the early 2000s when it was the two aughts. None of the socials, it was just radio, television and print and they were looking for someone that could help them with the public relations side predominantly, 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 an ED you came in very storied, alberta's part of the OG group of skills what was going to be your flavor? You know you had been in the company four years. Okay, you're going to be ED. Now what is it that you wanted to bring to the table that was new or different?
Speaker 1:You know what when I look back financially? You know what? When I look back financially? You know we were still a younger organization, incorporated in 1992. You know what I mean. So we're, you know we're still young in our evolution and you know, financially we needed a foundation from which to grow and build. Yeah, and we're grateful. You know, the province of Alberta, you know, sees tremendous value in us and so setting that right financial foundation, with the province in particular, gave us a great platform to spring off of. Yeah, you know, and now today there's still an incredible partner of ours. But we've been able to scale the organization, you know, significantly over the last 20, 20 years, but really as a result of that sort of foundational support. You know, we were always a competition, uh, organization, but we've. We branched into so many more different avenues, younger audiences, well and right, which is really important. Programming, yes, that never was a thing, never. Right now there's camps and workshops and all that stuff.
Speaker 1:I trade, takeout, we trademarked, you know, try a trade, you know, before the 09 event. So we've, you know that that really sort of set the state and then you're able to build, build your team and build your business, your brand. Yeah, and knowing that you've got that solid financial base and everything else, you know, you know from there has been about opportunity, changing landscapes. Covid provided you know, as terrible as it was, there was a whole lot of positive technologies and forms of communication came out of it. Yeah, that's for tri-trade takeout came our hits and distance delivered really came out of that.
Speaker 1:Before then we were all brick and mortar. Everybody had to come to us right and, and that turn and that shift, and you don't even see how limiting that is until you can. So this is it. And I don't know, maybe we never would have come upon it. Yeah, we wouldn't have even known that, we didn't know.
Speaker 1:It's hard to say, yeah, you know, when COVID hit and it was okay, this thing is happening and provincials is canceled, then it was, well, what can we do? What can you do? What can we do? And that's when we started to do this. Well, we've got to do something. Yeah, well, like, why is it canceled? That doesn't make any sense, sounds fine to me. Well, and even, and even, trade.
Speaker 1:We just went look if we can bring them here, can we send things to them? Yeah, yeah, right, and so you know, we're, we're proud when we look back on those moments. That was really the genesis of the. Let's send it to them. Yeah, right, and it's actually easier and cheaper. Yeah, and then we'll link together. There's nothing. There's nothing like this though. Yeah, right, there's nothing like you know, people get getting together.
Speaker 1: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 we love to do the podcast here. Yeah, which is great, is great Because we could do these online, 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 now like 300 kids. Yeah, and that's what this is about.
Speaker 1:Yeah, right, it's experiential and you can't get that from a piece of paper. You can't get that really looking through, try it, touch it, smell it, ask all the good questions and the you know the. How much can I make? Where do I go to school? You know, I've had so many questions 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 do anything. Okay, right, like, any of these trades can go. Yes, you never know where a trade will take you. Yeah, well, it's, it's.
Speaker 1:This is an incredible change, even the program. So you know, we have TV video production as one of our competition areas, and so the program that I went through at NAIT is, of course, at our provincials and it's changed over the years. Right, we're not, we're not just sending people out in the world to be radio broadcasters, and you know folks on TV, you know we're teaching them about this and this environment and how to prepare for that. So it's really cool. I mean, as the world changes, training providers change. Well and honestly, training providers 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 newest process, 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 years ago, 25 years ago, skills when it was in the infancy, there was a lot of skills.
Speaker 1:Banging on schools' doors, let us in. Banging at colleges, let us in. And it was like, hmm, guidance counselors weren't interested, teachers were like man, we got great universities, you know. But I find that now, 2025, in most of the provinces I've talked to. It's flipped. Now the colleges are coming to skills, being like bring us a camp, bring us a program, we want you to come in. When can you come in? You, are you finding the same in alberta? Has it switched to the other way, where it's like now you're struggling to find time to commit to all the things that are asked? That's exactly what it is. I mean, everything is a capacity issue.
Speaker 1:Now and again, we feel very fortunate where we are in Alberta, where this is important. It's important for socially, financially, for our province, and so there's a real emphasis and a real drive and we're grateful to be a part of that. So you're absolutely right, and so there's a real emphasis and a real drive and we're grateful to 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 be able to do more. It's just that simple. Yeah, it's just that simple.
Speaker 1:Now, how's the growth been in your 20 years? Like, what was it like when you started versus now? Yeah, of course, you know. I mean, you're in borrowed office space somewhere. Yeah, yeah, you know you've got a 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. So you branch out and you get your 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've got a brick and mortar. Now this is it, yeah, right. And then you start building bit by bit. You start adding components to the organization. So, early when I started, I'm the fundraiser, I'm the fundraiser for everything.
Speaker 1:But it's not realistic. Right, as you grow, you need professionals, you need people that really know that side of things. And again, we've got a great FD team. You know, that is there. Yeah, that infusion of dollars allows programming to grow and expand Absolutely Right. And communication to blossom Right. And then you need more administration, and now you need a bigger office. Now you need a warehouse and all that communication creates work, all that stuff. Now you need people to do the work, right? Well, this is it. And on the social side I mean it used to be we do PR, we do some media buys, but this social side needs dedicated people that are working this all the time on all the different platforms. So you know it's. You know I mean we were five we're double, triple the the size now today you know I mean numbers wise we're reaching over 40 000 kids on an annual basis. So you, you need, you need all of that in order to be able to support all of that growth.
Speaker 1:But it's just super cool, super fun, love being a part of it. Oh for sure, we were talking about it all week. You know, like how? I think every trades person at some point in their career could go to a national competition and spend the two days walking around, pick a couple trades maybe not even yours and follow them through, get invested how they do, pick a winner at the racetrack and see if they're your person, or cheer for your province or whatever. Totally, I think it's valuable on a number of levels. Number one it's valuable to just know that this exists, because many people don't even know this is a thing, and this is like dang Olympics, it is Not knowing what the Olympics is. That's exactly what this is. And then, number two is this fills your cup.
Speaker 1:You come out of this just being like, 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, as you know, in corporate world, bureaucracy world, sometimes you start 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 couple of these and you're like, okay, now I know, now I know I'm doing this.
Speaker 1:Yeah, it just is like to see young people doing these amazing things, to be so accomplished at such a young age. Well, could you imagine I was so dumb, like? I was like, wow, we got to cut ourselves some slack here, max, you know what I mean? I was 18. We had encyclopedias to get all of our information. I was welding at 17, so at least I had my trade.
Speaker 1:But you had an early start, which is great, that's the thing. I started early. But, my Right, that's the thing I started early. But my dad was a welder, so that's the family thing. My dad was like, hey, get a job this summer. And I was like, oh, let's go work at Dairy Queen, like my friends. And he's like, no, you're not. I mean, yeah, some of the best advice you ever got. Yeah, and I here, I am Right, yeah, executive director, and you try to build it, but you can't do it without the sponsors and the partners that you find. That's a big part of it Huge.
Speaker 1:Luckily, out here in the West I would say, like from Manitoba West we have no lack of great companies and sponsors and a lot of, like, large but still locally based companies. Oh, yeah, smes play a huge role in what we do and you know, I mean dollars are required, dollars are necessary, but so much. Wheels are great, yeah, but so much of what we do out on that floor doesn't come from dollars. Yeah, right, like we need, you know, probably five, 6 million tools, equipment and materials. Yeah, five, six million tools, equipment and materials. You couldn't afford to buy that every single year, right. So this is all the partnerships with the partners, the colleges, right, stuff that you've been able to secure through those partnerships, right, trading centers We've got trailers full of equipment that we have and then the rest of it is through partnership.
Speaker 1:The most significant part of you know cost for us, or sort of that. If you're looking at you know, dollars versus the in-kind. The in-kind outweighs it many times, for sure, and it's just as valuable. I actually, when I first got the ed job here, yeah, we didn't even have an in-kind concept at cwb. Like, guys, we need to get it because in-kind is valuable. They're like, well, it's not real money. I'm like, yeah, but it's not money we spent. What are you? You not understanding Bingo? Like it's $500, $500. Yeah, but $500 that I don't have to spend is still $500. Yes, like what are you? It's not that complicated, absolutely. That's not going to come from anywhere and if somebody doesn't help us with it, we'll have to spend it.
Speaker 1:Everything is expensive. Just last year we had a donor from Edmonton give us a sea can full of electrodes. They finished a job they had overordered and they have an expiry date on them and once they expire they're no good for industry. But guess who loves expired electrodes? Skills and training centers. Absolutely, training centers, right? So through our network at the CWB we actually distributed that. It was four and a half tons of electrodes all over Alberta and Saskatchewan. A little bit made it into Manitoba, but we ate it all up. But a lot of it went to skills groups. Right, they needed electrodes. Hey, burn these up. But this is it. We're taking eight compressors and refrigeration back with us because they're incredibly expensive. They're not useful to anybody here, so we're going to take them back and we'll use them in our competition 100%.
Speaker 1:We're looking for opportunities all the time. That's what you've got to do. We need capital, of course. We need cash, we need in-kind and we need people, passionate people, the volunteers, the champions.
Speaker 1:This thing runs on passion. We always say you're coming on the board, you passion. Right. We always say you're coming on the board, you're coming to volunteer, champion first. It's a champion first mentality. You got to love this stuff because 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 long weeks. You're going to love them, yeah, and you're not going to sleep much. No, but that's the type of individual that we're looking for, and we were all those people in other industries. You don't end up in these not-for-profit passion jobs without already kind of like you were heading there. Totally, you're on your way. Yeah, it's just who grabbed you first, right? Yeah, I mean, it's the best thing you know for me.
Speaker 1:I worked in the private sector, shift to this place and again, I feel fortunate that we're a have. There are a lot of great organizations out there that really struggle. We're not one of those organizations. So I think that might be a bit tough, but it's great to be meaningful, to do great work, to have a solid reputation, to be looked at as a go-to and, if you are a have, be the leader and show what that looks like. Absolutely, because that's the template 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 is like, based off the, the idea of the essential skills and the skills for change.
Speaker 1:What skills have you had to learn as ED? Working with skills, writing's the 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 coordinating and managing, but then someone says, put that all into a spreadsheet. I just want to like rip my eyes out of my head. Yeah, a little bit of that too.
Speaker 1:You know what I mean Financial management. You know what I mean Outside of your own budgets and you know maybe some investment work or whatever. You know when you're dealing with, you know a business and an organization. Your first audit? Yeah, you know what I mean. Asking me about who bought the gum, like I don't know, like, so, financial acumen, it does matter, but you know, but it's funny, you know I mean so.
Speaker 1:But then you take that back in your 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 what you do. Yeah, and over the years, the the more things and as things grew and as responsibility increased and you pull out the tool you need when you need it. That's exactly it, buddy. Yeah, and so numeracy and document use yes, yes, yes, yes, yeah, in a big way, in a big way, and still learning all the time. Yeah, now a lot of the provinces in Canada and territories use Alberta-based curriculum. Alberta has been a leader for a lot of things.
Speaker 1:Do you find that you're kind of almost like competing against things that you built yourself? Well, that's an interesting concept. Actually, I hadn't even thought of that. I mean, probably, probably. Stop it, people. Stop making it so damn difficult for us. We want it back. What do you do? It's the competitive environment, right, people are using it, right. Yeah, that's great Again, whatever pushes us. Failure helps you to learn. Right, it's a skills family. Right, it's a skills family. It's a skills family, but we still 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, just a little bit.
Speaker 1:Are you going to be going to shanghai? That's the the plan. We'll see who's on the podiums on saturday. 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 how that's going to be. We should, we should have some people on the team. We just don't know exactly where that's going to come from. If my boss hears this, as I'm sure he will, we're still trying to figure out how to fund getting to Shanghai. So we'll figure it out. We'll figure it out. Should be there, should be there. I think people would love to see an English broadcast in Shanghai, china, but she doesn't want to go to Shanghai, china. I'll take someone else and we'll be able to interview the Team Canada. Welder from Alberta that's in Shanghai. So it'll be amazing. There you go, there you go, gauntlet has been drawn, all right.
Speaker 1:Last couple of questions before we wrap this up. First of all, you know, as a spect spectator, put on your spectator lenses and you've walked the floor, you've been around the whole building and seen this amazing venue. Which are your top three trades that you like to watch, the top three that you like to just spectate, like if you could just put your feet up and watch it? Yeah, cabinet making, cabinet making, our painting, bar painting yeah, that's what I haven'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 and landscape gardening Okay. So landscape has been on everyone'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.
Speaker 1:Someone said bricklaying too, brickling too. Okay, that's a good one. Yeah, the brickies are good. Yeah, cabinet making I mean, any of the natural material stuff is fascinating to me. I would be so terrible as a welder. Wood terrifies me, yeah, fabric, even fashion, yeah, I just Team stress. Yeah, I know, I just don't know how it all kind of comes together. It just seems so loose. Thanks, buddy, it seems so loose. Anyway, I don't dress myself. Come on, somebody pick this out for me. This is all paid for. Yeah, I bought and paid for it. Yeah, there you go. And last question If you could start it all over, if you could hit that reset button, knowing everything you know about these trades, which one would you pick?
Speaker 1:Now, I'm drawn to cabinet making. I've always been drawn to cabinet making. What I love about cabinet making is that they build a lot of stuff without nails. Yes, like when they just like dovetail and groove, tug and groove what are all the terms they have? The piece of furniture that's made at the end of the day and you were in Kazan, yeah, I was in Kazan. You have such an appreciation when you get to that world's level, yeah Right. And the piece of furniture that is done over four days? And you know that that would Will last a thousand years? Yeah, and that would take weeks. Oh for sure Of a craftsman, you know what I mean. And these kids are hammering it out with hundreds of people watching them, but by then they've learned to block all that kind of stuff out. Yeah, because Kazan was 73 hectares of competition grounds. Yeah, are you kidding me? That blew my mind. Yeah, not to get political, but I'm so glad we weren't there when we were Right before. I know yeah, I know I still talk about that.
Speaker 1:The food was amazing, it was great. It was a super cool experience. Everybody should go to a World's Absolutely, they just should. Your mind will be blown. Shanghai will be amazing. I got to get there and plus, I love Asian food. I'm into that. Give it to me. I want feet sticking out of it.
Speaker 1:Ken Heather will tell you some stories about China. He says it's tough to get a good cup of coffee there. I like tea. Okay, well, whatever, I'm a coffee. It's on my butt. They have great beer, some of the best beer in the world. It's fantastic. Talk of my language. I'm in. We just need a competitor. We'll figure it out.
Speaker 1:This week I got my bets on some Saskatchewan kids. I think they're going to be on on the podium there. Okay for worlds. So, uh, you know I'm I'm hoping for it. I like a team where, again, lots of alberta, um and uh, but where everybody's got a little piece of the action. Yeah, yeah, you know what I mean. Like I like a really diverse team, support the whole country because it is team canada. It's good for everybody. Yeah, it is, it really is good for everybody.
Speaker 1:When I look at Nunavut and they have 14 people here, I remember when they used to have one yes, right and I interviewed oh my 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 imagine having someone go to Worlds? And he's like we haven't really even 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 done it in a while, but I think we're entertaining it again.
Speaker 1:There is desire for an Americas. So they did do them in the past. They did, yeah, and that gave us a chance to build a representative team. Yeah, so it wasn't really necessarily about results, it was about representation and every province and territory had somebody on that team. So in 2018, when we were training up for kazan, they did do an americas for welding and it was mexico, us and canada, which is cool.
Speaker 1:We sent when we sent adam down for the week and it was where was that? Was that in huntsville? Yes, it was okay and they got to compete against the three, between the three countries, and that was awesome. And then we sent them to a competition in australia. Oh yes, exchange, oh yes, and you know what.
Speaker 1:We're not really doing those things anymore. Those like inter-country warm-ups, like I realized that post-covid money's not been the same thing. Like we had a lot of money throw around right before COVID. It almost felt like we were at our richest ever, right before COVID, right, and maybe we'll never get back to that because things have changed. I hope we do. I hope we do.
Speaker 1:I think there's a way, because those opportunities are insanely good. It's massive. You never want to send your world's competitor overseas jet lag food, all the rest of it for the first time going into their competition. Yeah, yeah, absolutely don't want to do that. Or send them a week early and pay for the hotels, because it takes a couple days to get your bearings. It's a challenge. And the food North Americans are picky eaters. I hate to say it, but lots of kids are not great at new foods, right? So sometimes I've seen that get to people. Oh yeah, I've seen it. Oh yeah, we in our cabinet maker.
Speaker 1:In Abu Dhabi there was a Tim Hortons and he was getting Tim Hortons grilled three times a day. Dude it was. But you do what you have to do because you know what this means and if that made him comfortable, and it did, and so we did Like, if you're going to, you know, achieve that that 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 this conversation. Thank you so much, super fun. Thanks, great to have you on the show.
Speaker 1:Appreciate the podcasts here this week. Uh, this is one of the last ones. We got 13 in total, so if you came into this one, first make sure you check out all 13 podcasts. We got every province and territory represented and it has been such a good time. We're going to wrap up the week and I know we're going to do a little bit of media social media tomorrow with the, with the closing ceremonies and the medals, especially, of course, welding we're going to have our eye on. So follow us online and check out everything we're doing. We love you and catch the next episode. We hope you enjoy the show.