It’s been likened to the Olympics. But instead of sports, the 40th WorldSkills Competition showcases the world’s best and brightest young people skilled in the trades and technologies.
From September 1 to 7, more than 900 youth from 51 countries and regions have gathered in Calgary to compete for medals in everything from carpentry to cooking, mobile robotics to landscape gardening, and auto-body repair to web design.
The high-performance competition, which takes place every two years, aims to inspire youth to pursue careers and excellence in the skilled trades and technologies while addressing the skills shortage faced by industries around the world, including in Canada.
“Projections on the emerging labour force of the next couple of decades are clear: If tradespeople work hard, embrace new technologies and stay current in their expertise, they will have long and rewarding careers,” said Prime Minister Stephen Harper at the opening ceremonies on Tuesday.
Shaun Thorson is executive director of Skills/ Compétences Canada, a not-for-profit organization based in Gatineau, Quebec, that works with employers, educators, labour groups, and governments to promote careers in skilled trades.
“We have an aging population,” he said. “In the next three to five years, we’ll see a lot of people leaving the workforce as a result of retirement, so we need to make sure we have adequate numbers of people to replace them.
“One avenue to do that is to make sure our young people are aware of the occupations that exist, and how they can get involved through apprenticeship programs or their technical colleges, polytechnic institutes, and community colleges.”
Skills/Compétences Canada, along with WorldSkills International and Skills Canada Alberta, is one of the key organizations providing support to WorldSkills Calgary 2009 to host this year’s event.
The organizers note that by 2020, Canada will be facing a labour shortage of nearly one million.
From September 1 to 7, more than 900 youth from 51 countries and regions have gathered in Calgary to compete for medals in everything from carpentry to cooking, mobile robotics to landscape gardening, and auto-body repair to web design.
The high-performance competition, which takes place every two years, aims to inspire youth to pursue careers and excellence in the skilled trades and technologies while addressing the skills shortage faced by industries around the world, including in Canada.
“Projections on the emerging labour force of the next couple of decades are clear: If tradespeople work hard, embrace new technologies and stay current in their expertise, they will have long and rewarding careers,” said Prime Minister Stephen Harper at the opening ceremonies on Tuesday.
Shaun Thorson is executive director of Skills/ Compétences Canada, a not-for-profit organization based in Gatineau, Quebec, that works with employers, educators, labour groups, and governments to promote careers in skilled trades.
“We have an aging population,” he said. “In the next three to five years, we’ll see a lot of people leaving the workforce as a result of retirement, so we need to make sure we have adequate numbers of people to replace them.
“One avenue to do that is to make sure our young people are aware of the occupations that exist, and how they can get involved through apprenticeship programs or their technical colleges, polytechnic institutes, and community colleges.”
Skills/Compétences Canada, along with WorldSkills International and Skills Canada Alberta, is one of the key organizations providing support to WorldSkills Calgary 2009 to host this year’s event.
The organizers note that by 2020, Canada will be facing a labour shortage of nearly one million.
This year marks Canada’s tenth participation in the WorldSkills Competition. The Canadian team of 38 competitors is the largest team Canada has sent. They are participating in 35 of the 45 skills categories during the four-day competition from September 2 to 5.
Experts from the participating countries closely collaborated to develop the test projects, which are “all very practical and very hands on” and represent the standards, regulations, and best practices that exist worldwide, said Mr. Thorson.
Competition categories include transportation and logistics, construction and building, information and communication technology, manufacturing and engineering, creative arts and fashion, and social and personal services.
The wide variety of contest areas showcases a broad range of career options, Mr. Thorson said.
“That’s our goal—to try to present as many of those as possible so [youth] are as informed as possible when they are looking at making that all-important career decision.”
The age of the competitors for most events ranges from 17 to 23, except for those competing in aircraft maintenance and the manufacturing team challenge, who can be up to 25.
Celebrity spokespersons include home improvement guru Mike Holmes, master chef David Adjey, and astronaut Julie Payette.
The competitions are all open to the public with free admission, and there is a new hands-on interactive area this year called Skills City where visitors can try out a skill or a trade for themselves.
“They can try to build a brick wall, or wire a circuit board, make some baking dough, colour someone’s hair, to give them a little sensory introduction of what’s involved in those occupations,” Mr. Thorson said.
The international event also hopes to generate attention on the longstanding issue of “worker mobility, to make it easier for workers to move from one region of the country to another,” he said.
He pointed to the Interprovincial Standards Red Seal Program as one effort helping to address this issue.
There are 50 Red Seal trades that represent nearly 90 percent of registered apprentices in Canada and a substantial portion of Canadian tradespersons. Under this program, certified journeypersons in one province can take the Red Seal examination to obtain Canada-wide recognition for their certification.
To encourage Canadians considering a career in the trades, the federal government offers an Apprenticeship Incentive Grant of up to $2,000 and an Apprenticeship Completion Grant of $2,000 to apprentices registered in a program in one of the Red Seal trades.
It also offers a tax credit to encourage employers to hire apprentices, and another tax credit to help tradespeople with the cost of their tools.
The federal government contributed funding of $13.4 million and the Alberta government $24 million to WorldSkills Calgary 2009.
The last time a WorldSkills Competition was hosted in Canada was at the Montreal Olympic Stadium in 1999. The first was held in 1950 in Madrid, Spain.
London, U.K., will host in 2011, and on Tuesday organizers announced that Leipzig, Germany, won the vote to host the 42nd WorldSkills Competition in 2013.
Nearly 150,000 visitors, including 50,000 students, are attending the competition at the 193-acre Calgary Stampede Park. The event is estimated to generate a net economic impact of more than $80 million in Calgary.
Experts from the participating countries closely collaborated to develop the test projects, which are “all very practical and very hands on” and represent the standards, regulations, and best practices that exist worldwide, said Mr. Thorson.
Competition categories include transportation and logistics, construction and building, information and communication technology, manufacturing and engineering, creative arts and fashion, and social and personal services.
The wide variety of contest areas showcases a broad range of career options, Mr. Thorson said.
“That’s our goal—to try to present as many of those as possible so [youth] are as informed as possible when they are looking at making that all-important career decision.”
The age of the competitors for most events ranges from 17 to 23, except for those competing in aircraft maintenance and the manufacturing team challenge, who can be up to 25.
Celebrity spokespersons include home improvement guru Mike Holmes, master chef David Adjey, and astronaut Julie Payette.
The competitions are all open to the public with free admission, and there is a new hands-on interactive area this year called Skills City where visitors can try out a skill or a trade for themselves.
“They can try to build a brick wall, or wire a circuit board, make some baking dough, colour someone’s hair, to give them a little sensory introduction of what’s involved in those occupations,” Mr. Thorson said.
The international event also hopes to generate attention on the longstanding issue of “worker mobility, to make it easier for workers to move from one region of the country to another,” he said.
He pointed to the Interprovincial Standards Red Seal Program as one effort helping to address this issue.
There are 50 Red Seal trades that represent nearly 90 percent of registered apprentices in Canada and a substantial portion of Canadian tradespersons. Under this program, certified journeypersons in one province can take the Red Seal examination to obtain Canada-wide recognition for their certification.
To encourage Canadians considering a career in the trades, the federal government offers an Apprenticeship Incentive Grant of up to $2,000 and an Apprenticeship Completion Grant of $2,000 to apprentices registered in a program in one of the Red Seal trades.
It also offers a tax credit to encourage employers to hire apprentices, and another tax credit to help tradespeople with the cost of their tools.
The federal government contributed funding of $13.4 million and the Alberta government $24 million to WorldSkills Calgary 2009.
The last time a WorldSkills Competition was hosted in Canada was at the Montreal Olympic Stadium in 1999. The first was held in 1950 in Madrid, Spain.
London, U.K., will host in 2011, and on Tuesday organizers announced that Leipzig, Germany, won the vote to host the 42nd WorldSkills Competition in 2013.
Nearly 150,000 visitors, including 50,000 students, are attending the competition at the 193-acre Calgary Stampede Park. The event is estimated to generate a net economic impact of more than $80 million in Calgary.
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