ENGAGEMENT IS KEY—SKILLS CANADA’S RECENT PROVINCIAL COMPETITIONS PROVE IT
BY ALLISON ROGERS
If you think the trades are lacking talent, you must be missing the news around Skills Canada’s provincial competitions this spring.
Anyone attending one of Skills Canada’s events would be impressed at the sheer grandeur of the festivities. With dozens of budding tradespeople competing in 46 different trades on a vast exhibition floor, the passion and energy is palpable.
For those that have not experienced the event in its ferocity, the gist is this: secondary and post-secondary students from various school districts around the province go head-to-head in skills competitions to test their talents in a variety of trades. So, in one corner you could have automotive painting; ten feet away, carpentry apprentices are working on their latest masterpiece.
The motive power section of the Skills Canada program includes: automobile technology, heavy vehicle technology, auto body repair and automotive painting. The size of these workspaces take up significant space—and contribute to much of the noise—inside the exhibition hall, making them hard to ignore.
“I know some apprentices that could be shown the door by these grade 11 and 12 students.”
— STEFANO LIESSI, SKILLS ALBERTA JUDGE
TRAINING AND CURRICULUM COORDINATOR FOR COLOR COMPASS
Perhaps the best part of all—the collision repair competition pool is growing. “We had 11 competitors for collision repair this year,” said Bill Speed, who has chaired the Skills Ontario collision repair competition for 29 years. “It’s more than we’ve seen in a long, long time.”
Bodyworx Professional attended the second day of Ontario’s competition at the Toronto Congress Centre, where, even after the competition ended, hundreds of young people—prospective future talent—wandered the halls. Judge and CWB Collision Instructor Jean-Marc Julien was impressed with the welding talent at the collision repair workspaces, as was Speed.
Stefano Liessi, Skills Alberta judge and training and curriculum coordinator for Color Compass Corporation, told Bodyworx the young talent was particularly skilled this year.
“I know some apprentices that could be shown the door by these grade 11 and 12 students,” he said during the Skills Alberta provincial competition. “What takes place during ‘Skills’ week is nothing short of spectacular and monumental,” he said after the competition, adding a thank-you to all organizers and supporters of the event.
The local collision repair industry makes a point to attend and partake in Skills Canada events, with an all-star roster of judges on each provincial comp panel. Industry representation is also present with supporting sector-adjacent companies bringing their teams for additional support. Attendees of the Ontario competition agreed that the audience this year was massive.
Collin Welsh, senior VP of operations for CARSTAR Canada, said his company brought 6,000 chocolate bars and basketball-themed stress balls to the event, in support of CARSTAR Canada’s partnership with the Toronto Raptors. By the end of day two, all 6,000 of those units were gone. “They had the chance to win Raptors tickets if they found the special golden slip,” he told Bodyworx.
At the Fix Network booth, students had to name car parts for the chance to be entered in a raffle. The prize: an Uber Eats gift card for their whole class. “It’s incredible how their faces light up once they hear there’s food involved,” said Jamie Neuman-Rodrigues, Fix Network special projects manager. “I was impressed at the number of students that immediately knew the part diagram they were looking at,” Neuman-Rodrigues added after our Bodyworx editor failed to correctly name a part.
This isn’t to suggest that we need to incentivize students with shiny things to get them to consider our field—but it does show that, when the carrot is tied to the stick just right, we have a real chance at engaging students that already have an interest in automotive. Especially at events like Skills Canada’s competitions, which showcase the grandeur and very best the industry has to offer. So…how will you support your local Skills competitions?
