Happy Holidays
We wish to extend to all of our members our warmest greetings for this Holiday season. We hope that the new year will bring you much health, happiness and success, and we thank you for your support this past year.

CWA 2010 Conference
We are finalizing our plans for an annual CWA Conference to be held in Ontario from September 27-28. The abstracts must be submitted by February 26th. The selections will be made by April 30 and final document submissions must be made by June 30. For further details please see the attached document and stay tuned to our website for updates.

Did you really want to pay more for insurance?
 Unexpected repairs and events can really add up. So can the discounts from Waterloo Insurance™!  We are pleased to remind all Ontario based Premium and Standard members of the CWA of an important benefit program: Group Automobile and Home Insurance through The Waterloo Insurance Company (a division of Economical Insurance) and National Brokers Insurance Services Inc.This program offers you the opportunity to receive competitive group rates & quality insurance coverage for your car, home, condominium, cottage, seasonal dwelling and includes tenant insurance for renters.

The program provides the following benefits:

• Competitive group rates – save up to 60%
• No interest or service charges on monthly payment plans – an additional 3% savings
• Payment plans include monthly pre-authorized chequing, Visa, MasterCard & American Express
• No obligation telephone quotations
• Emergency after hours claim service 24/7
• Insurance tailored to your specific needs
• Friendly, professional advice

CWA Montréal Chapter Announcement
We are delighted to formally announce that the CWA Montréal Chapter was established on October 22, 2009. Martin Daignault of Inspec-Sol Inc. is the new Chairman. Martin has signed the CWA Affiliation Agreement on behalf of the Montréal Chapter. We hope that everyone will make an effort and support the executive members as they work on developing plans for the future actvities of this newly formed organization. Please stay tuned for  announcements about the general membership meeting plans. Thank you to all who have assisted in getting this Chapter established.

Pictured left to right: André Boulianne, Treasurer, Honoré Diemo, Secretary, Gilles Labrecque, Director, Dominique Chabot, Vice Co-Chair, Danny Blais, Vice Co-Chair, Martin Daignault, Chairman, Stéphane Laurin, Director and Steve Lecuyer, Director.

2009 Welding & Joining Specialization Scholarship Awards
On November 12, 2009, three scholarships were awarded at the University of Waterloo’s Faculty of Engineering Annual Awards night to three outstanding mechanical engineering students in the Department of Mechanical & Mechatronics Engineering’s Welding & Joining Specialization. Mr. Marc Stone, Manager, Ontario Operations for the CWB Group presented this year's R.M. Gooderham Scholarship to Robert Stirling. The $5,000 R.M. Gooderham Scholarship is in memory of R.M. Gooderham, first general manager of the CWB and is awarded to a Welding & Joining Specialization student with a minimum overall average of 75%. The Air Liquide Canada Inc. Scholarship in Welding was awarded to David Boere. The $5,000 Air Liquide Canada Inc. scholarship is awarded to a student enrolled in the Welding & Joining Specialization with strong academic achievement and a demonstrated interest in welding engineering. David has been welding on his father’s farm since he was a young boy, has taken high school and college welding courses and has done all 6 of his co-operative engineering work terms working at various companies across Canada on welding related jobs! Finally, Steven Choi is this year’s recipient of the $2,500 Canadian Welding Association (CWA) Scholarship in Memory of Mike Cherry that is awarded to a Welding & Joining Specialization student with a strong academic achievement through the first three years of study.
 
Robert, David and Steven are 3 of the 12 undergraduate students in the Welding & Joining Specialization who will graduate this coming May, 2010 and receive their BASc degrees in Mechanical Engineering and a Certificate of Completion of the Welding & Joining Specialization. These three industry-sponsored scholarships have been instrumental in attracting some of our top mechanical engineering students into the Welding & Joining Specialization at the University of Waterloo. For this we are very grateful. Congratulations to all three students on their outstanding achievements!
By David Weckman

Left to right: Robert Stirling, Marc Stone CWB Group, David Boere and Steven Choi

Australian Receives Top International Award
Mr. Chris Smallbone, Executive Director of the Welding Technology Institute of Australia (WTIA), was awarded the IIW 2009 Walter Edström Medal for his “remarkable and distinguished contributions to the International Institute of Welding (IIW) and the international community”. Fifty four (54) countries from around the world are members of IIW, and WTIA represents Australia on this prestigious body. Smallbone, pictured (left) receiving his award from Mr Lars Johansson, Head of the IIW Swedish delegation, is a mechanical engineer, an International Welding Engineer, and a Professional Chartered Engineer in Australia and the United Kingdom. In 2006 and 2007 he was listed in Engineers Australia’s Top 100 Australia’s Most Influential Engineers. He immigrated to Australia in 1995 from South Africa, where he had built up the Southern African Institute of Welding (SAIW) and founded the South African Skills Foundation. Under his leadership as Executive Director, the WTIA has prospered and significantly expanded its services to Australian industry.

Smallbone has led a series of successful and innovative technology diffusion, networking, educational and training projects to meet the technology and productivity needs of industry throughout Australia.  These have been supported by Federal, State and Territory Governments, and companies and organisations from a wide range of industry sectors around the country and held up by government as “some of the most successful networking projects” in this country.
 
Since 1974, Smallbone has held a number of key IIW positions. Through his role as Chairman of the IIW Board of Directors’ Working Group for Regional Activities and Liaison with Developing Countries commencing in 1993, and through outstanding personal commitment, he has assisted over 40 countries to promote welding technology for the benefit of their people.

He has initiated and promoted the IIW Project “To Improve the Global Quality of Life Through the Optimum Use of Welding Technology" throughout the world. The highly successful IIW WeldCare Programme which Smallbone developed is based upon the networking concepts, involving Technology and Educational Support Centres, which underpinned his achievements in building up the SAIW between 1978 and 1993.

Recognising that access to, and the use of, the IIW Qualification and Certification Programmes are foundations for personal and economic development as well as for technology transfer, improved respect for skills and the image of welding throughout the world, he championed the development, promotion and uptake of these significant IIW products.

As Chairman of the IIW Working Group 13 of Commission XIV 1992-1999 and Chairman of the IIW Task Force for Certification 2002-2005, he has led and generated significant advances in this field.

The IIW programmes have been established by WTIA in Australia, dovetailing effectively with existing qualification and certification for welding personnel to local standards and providing international benchmarking for companies and for individuals. The certification of companies to the IIW Manufacturer Certification Scheme (MCS) for ISO 3834 is now also delivered in Australia by the WTIA and is contributing significantly to quality, productivity and competitiveness of local companies. Smallbone served as IIW Vice President 1993-1996 and 2002-2005 and became IIW President 2005-2008, introducing many initiatives including the development of an IIW White Paper, expansion of the IIW Business Plan and introduction of IIW Recognition Awards.

Laser Welding Seminar
Mississauga, ON - January 19, 2010

The Toronto Chapter is organizing a Laser Welding Seminar. The presentations will cover a variety of laser welding processes and provide a number of real life laser welding applications. Please come and join us for this one day seminar and learn how laser welding application technologies may help your company grow and prosper. We have an incredible line‐up of guest presenters who will demonstrate how laser welding technologies are improving plant production efficiencies and their use is becoming more and more common. Click here for more information.