Don’t get me wrong, this is not a call to arms but a call to the tradespeople, the tinkerers, and the thinkers who have made America an economic powerhouse—set up shop here in Canada.
This isn’t a radical idea. It’s happened before and it’s happening now.
Who can forget the night in November 2016 when Donald Trump was first elected and Canada’s immigration website famously crashed. Many concluded it was the tens of thousands of panicked Americans who couldn’t imagine living through four years of the president’s destructive negligence.
This time around, there’s again a significant number of Americans who are absolutely horrified by what’s happening at home, evidenced by the spike in inquiries into renouncing U.S. citizenship since November 2024 and the Yale professor who ejected to the University of Toronto.
Canada has had one of the world’s most progressive approaches to immigration for years. However, recent immigration levels and our housing affordability crisis have eroded Canadians’ trust that the program is functioning as it should. But without immigration to bulk up our labour force—as it’s done for the past decade—our record-low fertility rates and educational system can’t supply the people and the skills we need to keep our economy and our communities growing.
So, why not look next door?
Though Canada often worries about “brain drain” to the U.S., the reverse dynamic has existed between the two countries at moments of significant rupture and crisis in response to American “exceptionalism,” imperialism, and aggression. This goes back to the origin of Canada as an independent country separate from the U.S.
During the American Revolution, tens of thousands of United Empire Loyalists fled to and settled in Canada. It is impossible to quantify what they and their descendants have contributed to the country that is now Canada, but fair to say it was foundational. Their fierce sense of difference and independence has likely kept us a distinct society to this day, including their defence of Canada in the War of 1812.
Then there was the U.S. Civil War, a few decades later—a battle of ideologies that featured Canada as the “terminus” destination for slaves fleeing the South using the Underground Railroad. Once here, they built communities and businesses, such as the first taxi service in Toronto; they also helped to build the moral compass that guides us as a nation today.
And don’t forget the estimated 50,000–125,000 Vietnam War draft dodgers in the 1960s and ‘70s who were so conflicted by U.S. conscription policies that they were willing to leave their country (at least those who couldn’t have medical records falsified). These were overwhelmingly middle-class and college-educated young people who brought with them an incredible entrepreneurial spirit, democratic values, and the belief they could contribute as citizens to a better country. And they did. In fact, the Government of Canada described them as “making up the largest, best-educated group this country had ever received.”
In these examples from history, Canada has largely been a passive recipient of those who could not remain in the United States, for any variety of reasons. With this latest moment of tension and moral quandary in America, when half of their population doesn’t know where to turn and the other half doesn’t know what’s hit them yet, we should be intentional and take an active role in attracting the talent we want and need.
Just like we did in 2023. In need of digital-first talent for high-tech fields, Canada made the bold move to establish a special three-year permit for up to 10,000 people. The pilot program would let anyone already accepted under the U.S. H1-B visa, plus their spouses and children, work and study here for up to three years, even if they didn’t have a job offer yet. We opened an online application window for one year and hit the maximum of 10,000 in less than a day.
Let’s learn from this example and look at U.S. universities, emerging industries, and strategic sectors. The best Americans are fish in a barrel.
What Canada can offer them right now is clear. We can offer them a better option: communities that welcome newcomers, a commitment to an education and good jobs, an economy built on the right fundamentals, and openness to the global market.
Let’s be aggressive in our pitches and incentives. David Frum recently suggested in an episode of Frum Dialogues, having the provinces each put together a “poaching fund” to pay top American talent multi-year contracts at actually competitive rates, as we attempt to woo the best and brightest to live and work here. We need bold thinking to actually achieve our ambitions.
This is a can’t-miss moment for Canada—we can decide on the skills and values we want to carry forward into the future economy. Whether that’s skilled homebuilders and tradespeople or vaccine researchers and scientists or nuclear engineers and quantum computing entrepreneurs, let’s make our list and go hunting in the biggest market for top talent. America: you’re hired.
