A Russian connection
Road Warrior Taylor Oliver-McCallum The current (work) ride: Ford F-150 Kilometres per day: 60 Service area: Edmonton/Red Deer/Leduc area, and some parts of B.C. Most useful tool in the toolbox: Hammer Favourite tool: Ridgid Propress machine Favourite TV show: The Office (U.S. version). I really ally al lyy like lik ke the th he Dwight character. Favourite cartoon: Scooby-Doo Favourite sport: Golf Favourite sit-down restaurant: Rural Roots Brewery eryy er in Leduc. Favourite drive-thru restaurant: Dairy Queen for the FlameThrower chicken wrap. Pets: A Staffordshire terrier named Ellie. Place you would like to visit. Peru to see Machu Picchu.
If you could meet anyone, alive or dead, who h would ld iit b be? Sidney Crosby If I had a million dollars: I wouldn’t quit working. But I would go on a nice little trip.
Photo: Aaron Kurmey Photography
What you miss most with the pandemic: Hanging out with family and friends. I don’t get to see them very often. Future plans: Owning his own plumbing company. Where would you like to live eventually? In B.C., in the mountains. If you weren’t a plumber what would you be? I really enjoy real estate. If I could do anything else it would be that. Favourite pastime: I have always been drawn to nature and the mountains. Camping and hiking are some of my favourite things. M e c h a n i c a l
B u s i n e s s
Be e Before he knew it, he was competing t 2018 Skills Canada National in the Competition in Edmonton. Then it was C Co m on o n to competing for Canada in the WorldSkills 2019 competition in Wo W Kazan, Russia. There, his team had Kaz K to design a bathroom and kitchen rough-in including water lines and rou he heating, with time challenges in between. be “The “T measurements had to be so pr precise,” he recalls.
Personal trademark: “You seldom catch me without a baseball hat. I have a bunch of different ones.”
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Taylor’s natural talent for the skilled trades g ga ve him a chance to shine on a world gave stage. An instructor at Red Deer s College encouraged him compete in a provincial skills competition, “I was he e hesitant at first, but I knew it would be a once o in a lifetime opportunity, so I d decided to sign up.”
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To release the stress of competing, he made sure to find some time d during the trip to check out the local sights. sig “The buildings are so old and pristine,” he says. “Some of their architecture was just unbelievable.”
