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www.oakvillebeaver.com The Oakville Beaver, Friday February 23, 2007 - 25 Welders shed light with education forum By Krissie Rutherford OAKVILLE BEAVER STAFF A welding organization hopes to shed some light on its work for the benefit of educators and students interested in the industry. The Canadian Welding Association will host an education forum on Wednesday, April 4 at the Burlington Holiday Inn on the South Service Road. The event will be used to report on progress in raising $500,000 for high school welding programs and to allow industry and education professionals to discuss how they can work together. The CWA said providing better resources and equipment to teaching institutions will allow students to become better qualified to contribute to industry upon graduation and to have enhanced employment opportunities. "Last year we raised $104,000 for 22 high schools" in the Golden Horseshoe region. "We thought what we gave them last year would be enough but they said, `Please continue on and give us more. Here's a wish list,'" said Dan Tadic, chairman of the CWA Hamilton and region chapter and first vice-president of the Canadian Welding Association. He said the wish list amounted to $500,000 worth of equipment. "That blew my mind. We're asking for a lot and hoping the companies will help us. Panasonic just made a donation of more than $66,000 worth of equipment," he said. Tadic said a skilled labour shortage in Canada means one of two things must happen. "We can import the skilled tradesmen from other countries or we can train our own. We choose to train our own." He said more than 300,000 people are employed by the welding industry in Canada. Presenters at the forum will include Yvan Paulin, a welding instructor at Burlington's Robert Bateman High School, who will summarize this year's activities of 22 high schools and the support he says is needed from the welding industry. John Young will also speak at the forum. The manager of learning and development skills training and apprenticeship for Dofasco will provide an overview of the Hamilton steelmaker's apprenticeship program as it relates to welders. He will cover topics like hiring practices, qualifications and the development process. Dofasco is a producer of flat-rolled and tubular steels, and laser-welded blanks, and is Canada's only producer of tin plate. A former Halton public school board employee also will address the crowd. Aldo Cianfrini, education officer for the Ontario Ministry of Education, will present information on the new specialist high skills majors that allow students to focus on the knowledge and skills needed by the economic sector, and how to obtain certifications recognized by these sectors as they work towards attaining their secondary school diploma. The forum is open to the public. If you want to attend the 6 p.m. dinner the cost is $40 per person. There is no cost to attend the presentations, which start around 7:30 p.m. You must pre-register either way. To register, or for more information, call 905-971-4064, send an e-mail to dan_tadic@praxair.com or visit http://www.cwa-acs.org/.