Local 555’s Desmond Mollison accepts the 2007 Top Canadian Apprentice award from Award of Excellence winner Eugene Arsenault (l.)
Eugene Arsenault earns Award of Excellence
DESMOND MOLLISON, a Local 555 graduate apprentice, won the 2007 Canadian apprentice competition in Montreal in June. A native of Indian Head, Saskatchewan, Mollison comes from a family of Ironworkers. When he was going through welding school, family members were impressed by his skill and told him he should become a Boilermaker, because “they are the best welders in the world.” Mollison says that kind of compliment – from a rival craft – was too good to ignore. He immediately enrolled in the Boilermaker apprentice program.
“It was the best choice I ever made,” Mollison said. “Now I don’t care about welding so much. There’s a lot more to being a Boilermaker than welding.”
The apprentice competition is designed to test a broad range of the many skills needed by journeymen in the trade. The first day consists of a six-hour battery of written tests covering Boilermaker common core materials. Contestants answered 50 multiple choice questions on such subjects as boilers, heat exchangers, furnaces, tanks, layout and fabrication, blueprint reading, safety, hand and power tools, and the Boilermaker Constitution.
The next three days are filled with practical tests through which competitors demonstrate their “hands-on” skills. These exercises cover the practical aspects of welding and cutting, rigging, layout and fabrication, and other skills needed by the Boilermaker in the field. The practical exercises are designed to test manual skills — cutting, welding, tube-rolling — as well as knowledge, use of equipment, and computational ability.
“The competition is intended to thoroughly test a wide variety of skills,” explained Grant Jacobs, Canadian national Boilermaker Apprentice Training Coordinator. “This competition sets the bar not only for our apprentices, but for all Boilermakers.”
Contestants came from all of the Canadian provinces with Boilermaker construction locals and apprentice programs. All of them earned the right to attend the competition by winning competitions in their home locals.
The 2007 contestants were as follows: Lory Thomas, Lodge 73, St. John, NB; Joe McLean, Lodge 128, Toronto, ON; Lyle Norman, Lodge 146, Edmonton, AB; James Lews, Lodge 203, St. John, NL; Martin Robichaud, Lodge 271, Montreal, QC, David French, Lodge 359, Vancouver, BC; and Desmond Mollison, Lodge 555, Winnipeg, MB.
Mollison described his trip to Montreal for the apprentice competition as “the chance of a lifetime.” He said, “I got to see boilermaking at a higher level. I got to meet some of the people who are looking out for us members on the tools.”
In keeping with tradition, this year’s Canadian apprentice award was named the Eugene Arsenault-Donald G. Whan award, in honor of Eugene Arsenault, this year’s winner of the Award of Excellence, and the late Donald G. Whan, who contributed so much to the Canadian apprentice program.
Arsenault started in the trade in 1974, working as a welder. He spent 10 years on the tools before becoming a supervisor. Over the next few years, Arsenault held positions as foreman, general foreman, superintendent, and general superintendent, before becoming the director for CNC Construction. He is currently director of construction for the Montreal division of Ganotec.
Arsenault sits on the board of the Centre de Formation des Metiers de L’acier (Quebec’s college for the metal trades), where the Boilermaker apprenticeship program is taught. Over the years, he has been a strong supporter of the Boilermaker apprentice program, supplying the college with tools and materials.
Judges for the competition represented the union, the technical colleges, and employers. This year’s employer judges were Carl Tremblay, Jack Brochu, Daniel Gagnon, Mario Lisella, and Marty Albright. Union judges were Mike Bayens, L-146; Bill Healy, L-203; Barry Pyne, L-359; Brian Mikkelsen, L-73; and Frank Nolan, L-555. Judges from the technical colleges were Ken Bachand, NAIT; Russ Osborn, BCIT; Jim Beauchamp, RRCC; and Ed Hoffman, Humber. The test coordinators were Guy Leveque and Richard MacIntosh.
The Prize
EVERY COMPETITION WINNER receives a copy of this statue, designed and sculpted by Don Begg. Begg and his wife Shirley own Studio West Ltd., in Cochrane Alberta. Begg worked briefly as a Boilermaker before pursuing his dream of becoming a metal sculptor. He studied sculpture and bronze casting in Alberta, New York, and California. His bronze sculptures depicting wildlife, historic figures, western scenes, and the oil and gas industry have received awards and high recognition in Canada and the United States.
