About Trade View Electrical Education

I saw a demand for electrical education in our local area in 2015.  There was instantly a request for Field Safety Representative (FSR) preparatory classes.  Over the past few years we have added classes to the course list as requested by the industry.

We have recently been approved by Technical Safety BC to host an 8 hour class and online self paced class (2018 BCEC update) which completely fulfills the continuing education requirement as laid out by Technical Safety BC.  We will continue to offer classroom electrical education and expand into online self paced education.

We believe we are involved with the most diverse trade there is.  Young and old we want to offer the style of education that works for their schedule and needs.

Our staff has slowly grown to meet the demand.  We are proud to be part of what we offer to the electrical industry.

Mike Staples
Director/Facilitator

Our Instructors

Mike Staples

Mike Staples began Trade View Electrical Education in the summer of 2015 out of demand and a sense that the electrical community was looking for something different in course content and instruction.

Mike's Bio

Mike has been fortunate to have worked his entire electrical career in the Greater Victoria area for close to 35 years. Presently employed with the City of Victoria as the an Electrical Inspector/Safety Officer. Most recently has been appointed to the position of Chief Electrical Inspector/Local Safety Manager.

It’s now time to give something back in the form of education.

Mike has worked as an installer in both the residential and commercial market. A few years in the office estimating and project management. An electrical inspector / safety officer since 2010.

The electrical industry on the lower Vancouver Island is small and there is only a few degrees of separation between anyone in the industry here.
All classes are kept small to have a collaborative learning environment.

“I’ve worked with a lot of different tradesmen since I stared in the industry in 1979. Some great and some not so great. I’ve learned something from everyone of them.”

“I try to teach from the electricians point of interest. Not over them.”

Ed Knaggs

Mr. Knaggs career has been focused on design and project management in the field of photovoltaics. He is a Professional Engineer with a degree in Electrical Engineering from Dalhousie University.

Ed's Bio

Mr. Knaggs manages the HES engineering, training and maintenance teams. He has over 15 years experience with remote, storage based and grid con­nected systems including repeaters, micro-grids, net metering and feed-in-tariff systems. He has also designed curriculum for and facilitated seminars to educate technicians in the installation, marketing and design of photovol­taic systems. He is a current member of several CSA Technical committees for solar energy product standards.

Ed Knaggs

Mr. Knaggs career has been focused on design and project management in the field of photovoltaics. He is a Professional Engineer with a degree in Electrical Engineering from Dalhousie University.

Ed's Bio

Mr. Knaggs manages the HES engineering, training and maintenance teams. He has over 15 years experience with remote, storage based and grid con­nected systems including repeaters, micro-grids, net metering and feed-in-tariff systems. He has also designed curriculum for and facilitated seminars to educate technicians in the installation, marketing and design of photovol­taic systems. He is a current member of several CSA Technical committees for solar energy product standards.


Tim Lindsay

Tim Lindsay was born in Victoria and has worked in the electrical and fire alarm industries for most of his career. Tim’s interest in the electrical field began while attending Cloverdale Elementary School, where after school he would collect blasting wire from a construction site located across the street.

Tim's Bio

Equipped with an abundance of wiring materials, he taught himself (with the aid of a library book) as much as possible about connection of batteries, speakers, telephones, radios and basically everything that could be made to operate using a pair of conductors.

Tim served his electrical apprenticeship with Ricketts Sewell  Electric, a former Victoria branch of a large Vancouver based contractor. Tim later worked for Mawson Gage and Houle Electric, where he experienced every aspect of the electrical industry from shoveling in a duct bank to chief estimator and project manager of million dollar electrical projects. Tim satisfied the requirements of the Canadian Construction Association Gold Seal Project Management accreditation at it’s inception. Along the way he was asked to serve on the board of directors, as an advisor, of a small upstart fire alarm service company back in 1974. Tim was asked to serve as general manager of the company 20 years ago, and is now the the current owner.