Province honours Trades Competitors for their work on the world stage

The province celebrates six Albertans who represented Canada at the 47th WorldSkills competition in France.

The province honuored six individuals who competed in the WorldSkills competition in Lyon France.

The semi-annual competition was held in September and brought together 1300 young skilled people from 66 different countries and regions.

Competitors in all but two events are under the age of 22 who competed in a variety of trade and technology based events.

Noah Harding from Calgary competed in the Plumbing and Heating competition.

“It was impressive to see and meet other guys from around the world and compete against them. It was it was (once) in a lifetime,” said Harding. “It was great to be a part of.”

Ben Rainforth was Alberta’s lone medalist, placing third in welding.

“To go there and to actually medal on a world stage is something I dreamed about for a long time,” said Rainforth. “It was about five years in the making so it was all time well spent training.”

Rajan Sawhney, the Minister of Advanced Education, says competitions like these help draw attention to the trades labour force, which is in need of workers.

“There is a shortage. We have numbers of people who are actually retiring, so we do need to encourage more to consider a career in the trades,” said Sawhney.

“Skill competitions like this, they elevate the profile of the trades and educate more Albertans about what the trades mean and how important they are in terms of growing the economy.”

This was the 47th WorldSkills Competition.