A Mega Success in the Trades: an Interview with Doug Golosky

"I find success when I see young people working. People who were labourers and couldn’t hold a job and five years later they have a family and a trade."

Anyone who believes that an education in the trades does not make for distinguished successes later in life should be introduced to a Métis gentleman named Douglas Golosky. Golosky, a trade-certified welder from Fort McMurray, went on to found Clearwater Welding & Fabricating Ltd., now part of The Golosky Group of Companies. Today, he oversees a workforce of a thousand people. His companies provide a variety of industrial products and services to clients in the oil/gas, oil sands, pulp/paper and construction industries.

The AHRDCC spoke with Doug shortly before he received the Best Achievement in Commerce Award at the Aboriginal Achievement Awards in Saskatoon March 31st, 2005.

What led you to establish Clearwater?

I worked as a welder for three companies. All three went broke and each time I was owed money. I thought that if I worked for myself, at least I could control what was going on.

What were the early days at Clearwater like?

Well, that was in 1984. We had two employees – my brother and my brother-in-law, whom I raised since he was ten years old. He’s still with the company as an estimator. The biggest break we got was from an oilsands company that gave us the opportunity to bid on work. They told us that if we had to deal with labour relations and I didn’t know where to turn, they would help. Of course we had to do good work and provide a great product.

So you’re going to keep growing?

Nobody can depend on yesterday’s success. We’re always going to look at what we can do to benefit our companies, respond to market needs, train our people and do things differently. We worked with the University of Waterloo on building 40-foot long pipe. I believe it was a world first. Now we have our very first joint venture with the largest pipe fabricator in the world in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. We’re training young Aboriginal apprentices in welding and millwrighting at a facility we built in northern Saskatchewan. We hope to employ them eventually. So I guess the answer is ”Yes.”

What does success mean for you?

I find success when I see young people working. People who were labourers and couldn’t hold a job and five years later they have a family and a trade. It doesn’t matter if they’re working for me or not or if they’re Aboriginal or not. It just makes me feel good.

What’s next for you and your companies?

There are some new ideas and new technologies we want to try. The industry can stand more computerization and automation. That’s the future. So we’ll work at merging people and computers to deliver better products and services. As for me, I’m 55 years old. As long as I have my health I’ll be doing this for quite a while.

This article originally appeared in the Spring 2005 issue of the National Report on Aboriginal Inclusion.

For more information on the Golosky Group of Companies, visit www.goloskygroup.com.