Vive le autobody!

Students from Montreal get a taste of the car trade in Winnipeg

Students from a college in Montreal spent the past two weeks learning about life as a car guy in Winnipeg.

The students ended up in Winnipeg thanks to Maples Collegiate teacher Lawrence Danylchuk’s involvement in Skills Canada.

Danylchuk was in Halifax last year for the National Skills Canada competition and got talking to a college teacher from Montreal.

The National Skills Canada competition is an event that challenges trades people at all levels to try their skills against other provinces.

“Over the next few months we were emailing over the Internet...now they’re here,” said Danylchuk.

A total of nine students from CFPV, an autobody trades college in Montreal, came to Winnipeg the day after the Grey Cup to learn how the autobody industry in Winnipeg works and stayed for two weeks.

“What’s different, is the insurance and the pay,” said 20-year-old student Pier-Luc Sirois, explaining that in Montreal, most of the time workers are paid a flat fee rather than by the hour.

The insurance industry is also different, he said. Unlike Manitoba, which has one public insurer, Quebec is made up of many private insurers.

When asked what they thought of Winnipeg on a very snowy day, one student said “It’s cold...there’s not a lot to do here. But the people, they’re friendly, they’re pretty nice to us.”

During most of their stay, each member of the group was placed in work placements around the city.

“Winnipeg’s industry, they were very good to us,” said Danylchuk. “All our guys are in a placement.”

They also toured other things, like the Forks, St. Boniface, autobody shops like Piston Ring on Wall Street, the Mint and did interviews with local French media.

Danylchuk said he hopes to eventually send some of his students to Montreal.

“That’s the hope, that’s the next step. We’ll see how this works out.”