Get to know MCA Canada’s new President & Chairman of the Board

Now let me tell you about some things I am very passionate about.

I am very passionate about my chosen trade. I am a plumber and I am very proud of that. I take great pride in belonging to such an important industry. I have, and always will have, a genuine passion for my trade. I became enamored with plumbing at a very young age. I grew up in a small town in northeastern Saskatchewan called Hudson Bay. I am the second youngest of eight children. We lived in a modest two-storey house. We didn’t have running water. We did, though, have a one-seater outhouse in the back yard bordering the back alley.

When I was about five years old, they brought water and sewer lines to town. I remember watching the big machines digging up the streets in front of our house to install the water and sewer mains. I was fascinated by this. I used to take one of mom’s plastic cups outside and dig my own trenches and install an intricate labyrinth of water and sewer mains with straws or sticks that I found on the ground. I would hold the cup in my hand and make like my arm was the back hoe. Complete with sounds as you can imagine. Much to my delight they actually dug a hole right up to our house. A strange man came in and pounded a hole in the corner of our basement and stubbed in a sewer pipe and a water line. What fun! After they backfilled and left our street, I would continue to run my own backhoe service everyday outside. I would go down in the basement several times a day to check on the pipes—just to make sure they were still there, I guess. I was completely enthralled. Soon after, another man came and started to pound out the concrete in our basement floor with a sledge hammer. He dug out the dirt and installed plumbing in our house. I was on him like stink on a monkey. This was so incredibly interesting to me. I would sit on top of the dirt pile and just watch his every move. Occasionally, he would ask me to hand him things. My apprenticeship had begun. He installed everything so straight. He wiped all his joints on the copper drainage when he soldered. I thought it was the best thing I had ever seen.

Later on in life, I worked for my brother during summer breaks when school was out starting at the age of 15. He is the one who got me truly started in the plumbing trade. He was a real tradesman. He wanted everything to be straight and to look good. I took it to heart. I have passed this on to all who have apprenticed under me. I have hopefully also passed on my passion for my trade to those I have worked with. Passion is what you should have in anything that you do. I have a strong passion for my trade and for the industry I work in. I have sat on the trade boards back home. I sit on the provincial MCA board and have served as president there. I have been on the national board for quite a few years now. I do this because I care about my trade. I want to make a positive difference. I feel that I have and that I still can.

I look forward to the next year serving as the President of MCA Canada. All we can hope to do as president is to carry on with all of the fine work of those who have held this position before us. Del, and all of the presidents who preceded Del, will be a tough act to follow. I will do the best I can.

I don’t want to go on and on here. I just wanted to give everyone a little background on where I came from. I hope it is enough to start a conversation with anyone I meet in the year ahead as I travel around to the various functions that I am so looking forward to attending. Come on up to me and let’s talk about our industry, our families or whatever else you want to talk about. I am really looking forward to the year ahead and seeing all of my old friends in this great industry, and I also hope to make a bunch of new friends on my travels."