Trump’s immigration squeeze is feeding Canada’s tech talent pipeline, but how long will they remain in Canada? – April 10, 2019,

it’s not always a good idea for your country to be a gateway into the country people are interested in migrating too. With that said, this is good news if it’s true, well actually this depends on how you look at it, one of the major reasons techy’s are ignoring Silicon Valley is the crazy cost of living, oddly enough Toronto and Vancouver could be creeping towards a similar fate, however, let’s hope things don’t get that bad. A worrying sign in Ontario is taxes combined with the lower valued Loonie which is always a major topic of mine. Personally, I hate the concept of lowering your countries currency to appease corporate manufacturing giants who’d otherwise not make their manufacturing base in Canada. A stronger dollar, a lower minimum wage, and fewer price controls would still make Canada an ideal location for manufacturing, the problem with a high dollar, of course, is that the size of the Government in Canada would have to shrink and a lot of these supply management, crown corporation schemes would have to dissolve. In regards to the GlobalNews Article titled 2 years in, Trump’s immigration squeeze is feeding Canada’s tech talent pipeline the following statement is made.

While some global tech companies are temporarily “parking” foreign nationals in Canada with a plan to eventually transfer them back to the U.S., many are establishing a permanent presence in tech hubs like Toronto, Ontario’s Kitchener-Waterloo corridor, Vancouver, Montreal and Ottawa.
2 years in, Trump’s immigration squeeze is feeding Canada’s tech talent pipeline – GlobalNews

For myself, this has been my experiences with foreign techies that I’ve spoken with when you get to know most engineers, what you quickly realize is that a few years after they graduate, they typically become fully aware of their demand in the marketplace. Doctors, engineers tradespeople, they’re not easily replaced. When women took over the public education system, a large segment of them made the assumption that the trades and technology weren’t as important as learning socially related skills. This is why if you attend most public schools today home economics as well woodshop classes have been replaced with higher teacher salaries and unions. Women assumed young girls wouldn’t want to remain in the home or learn to sew, so now most women and men don’t know how to sew and they’re afraid of machines with sharp blades.

This, of course, has led to Canada needing foreign talent to do the work most Canadians now believe is beneath them. Yes, this does include engineering, just last night I was watching a story that you can read on GlobalNews titled: Toronto condo residents irate over elevator repair delays in 40-floor building. When I see these stories I keep saying to myself, how stupid are these people, who in their right mind couldn’t see this coming. I think people forget that you need an ENGINEER in most instances to fix an elevator, which is why if you go to a City like Chicago, which is similar in size to Toronto, you don’t see as many Condos, you’ll often see more houses, why? Because the average elevator repairman’s salary in the U.S is $79,480 around $40 per hour BASE SALARY! In Canada, an elevator repairman makes $84,006 per year or $43.08 per hour in LOWER VALUED CANADIAN
DOLLARS! Now, just to give you an idea of how much money an elevator repairman will be losing by opting to work in Canada over the United States, currently $79,480USD = $105,787.88CAD.

The United States is our neighbor in case you haven’t been paying attention U.S entrepreneurs are very competitive especially with adding perks on top of their employee’s salary, this is why most Canadian talent ends up in the United States. Cost of living is typically lower in the U.S, lower in the sense that Americans aren’t forced to buy things they don’t want. Typically in Canada, when studies are done it turns out that Canadian cost of living is less than America, but what most people ignore about those studies are choices.

If an American doesn’t want to buy health care they don’t have too! If you ever wondered why Americans consume so much it’s because they’re not forced to buy certain goods at inflated costs. Supply management is a prime example of Canadians being forced to subsidize crown corporate cartels. CMHC is another example of Canadians being forced to subsidize corporate cartels. These monopolistic institutions have a damaging effect on a countries talent pool. Because again these are engineers, techy’s they don’t have to stay here, their skills are in high demand.

 

Now, you might argue well Canada has Universal Health Care? Yes, Canada does have Universal Health Care that typically helps the poor. Tech people, engineers, Doctors unless they’re horrible with money will typically be fine paying for their health insurance, I don’t know too many upper-middle-class people, who want to share a hospital bed with someone who spent their entire life on welfare. So this is of course why when I read hopeful stories like 2 years in, Trump’s immigration squeeze is feeding Canada’s tech talent pipeline, I have to think about the reality of the current economy Canada has built for itself.

I personally think we’re on the wrong side of history in 2019, which is sad because the coming world economic crash will probably hit us harder than a lot of the other developed nations. Price controls, intentionally devaluing our currency, a lot of regulations and having America as a neigbour, not always a smart combination in an economic downturn. Most Canadians assume (like they should) that our economy has no chinks, so to those of you who don’t understand how recessions work, public spending has to get cut, because the private sector pays the most income taxes and recessions typically change peoples buying patterns, which puts greater emphasis on collecting income taxes, which is why Jean Chretien and Paul Martin’s Liberals freed up the market and cut spending and changed the structure of government. Understand that what used to be considered public service, is in many ways a crown corporation. This was the main reason why the Liberals in the 1990s wound up in so many scandals. Anyway, let’s wait and see how this all unfolds, maybe things will work out great for Canada.

Interesting times ahead.