One local apprentice plumber is competing for Skills Canada's top plumber under 22 years of age.
Next May, 19-year-old Carson Colqhoun will compete against one other young Canadian for the opportunity to go to the world level Plumbing Trade competition in Russia.
“I got the highest mark for people under 22, so that’s why I ended up being on Team Canada for the Russian event,” explained Colqhoun.
He said the top two age-eligible competitors will go head-to-head in Halifax for a competition that will determine who represents Team Canada at Russia in August of 2019.
To qualify for Team Canada, Colqhoun recently attended a provincial Skills Canada Trade competition in Edmonton.
“Whether it be running drainage and water lines with setting fixtures, it’s all to within a two millimetre tolerance of the blueprint that they give us,” he said of the competition. “Every person has the exact same blank project to start on, and it’s just how you can conduct your project is how you’re marked.”
He explained that even though only one of them will be going to Russia, both members of Team Canada will train for the international competition. The Halifax competition will be done by Russian standards. His training will, therefore, include learning the Russian trade standard for plumbing.
“I’ll be training and learning Russian materials and Russian code, to make sure I can do everything to their standards,” said Colqhoun. “I have a trainer who is actually from Weyburn, too. I chose him, his name is Devon Stephanson, and he is a Journeyman at Don’s Plumbing and Heating.”
In fact, Colqhoun works as an apprentice plumber for Don’s Plumbing and Heating. The company has been paying for his education in the trade.
“They’ve really helped me set all the stuff up,” he said. “I can definitely see a future working with them where I’m at right now, because I’m planning to do all my training and my schooling through Don’s until I receive that Journeyman status. I’d like to see a nice career out of them, but I guess we’ll see what happens.”
Colqhoun said for now he will be happy with the skills development provided by the competition.
“Regardless of what happens, what I get in Russia, in my head-to-head competition, whatever happens there, this is going to be a once in a lifetime experience, and if anything, it’s going to advance me in my trade to be the best I can be,” he expressed.
"If anything, it’s going to advance me in my trade to be the best I can be.”
His healthy attitude toward the competition could be due to his previous experience with Skills Canada. Colqhoun noted that one of his teachers at Weyburn Comprehensive School, Rod Nieviadomy, encouraged him to compete for precision machining at the high-school level. For Colqhoun, it was a matter of having the knack.
“Growing up, I had lots of experience working on cars, working out at the farm, too, and building in our garage and stuff like that,” he said. “I really like it, just the hands-on work, for sure. My favourite thing about the trades is seeing a project through, where you can take something that’s nothing and make it to a residential house for a family to live in, or a business.”
Colqhoun noted that careers in the trades sector are appealing to more and more young people.
“There seems to be less and less young people trying to go into trades,” he said. “But nowadays, it’s starting to come back to where people are realizing you can live well, and make a nice career in the trades, so people coming out of high school are starting to realize that and switching over.”
Given the diverse job opportunities in the trades sector, the ability to earn as they learn, and the fact that skills trades are often offering higher salaries than four-year degrees can garner, it's no wonder the purpose-driven careers are gaining popularity with younger people. Carson Colqhoun has already proven that young people can also be exceptional in the trades.
See HERE for more information on Skills Canada Saskatchewan.
Fri, Apr 19, 4:00 PM
Full-time, Agriculture, Skilled Trades
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