Brain Drain
The topic I have chosen is the “Brain Drain”. Is this a brain drain or a brain gain for Canada? Canadians believe it is a brain drain for them. The United States is also losing some of their students to Canada. This is a real issue facing Canadians; they are losing many of their highly educated students each year. “The issue of “brain drain” is a political hot potato in Canada”. (Quoted by Wayne Kondro). Many of these students are moving to the United States because they are being paid a lot better.
This so called “brain drain” south was particularly dramatic in the mid- 1990’s. There are many knowledgeable Canadians heading South of the border. Our low Canadian dollar is part of the reason why people chose to move to the States. Canadian’s are being paid much more working in the US than they are being paid in Canada. High taxes are another reason Canada is driving people into the states. Another main reason why so many Canadians are leaving to live in the U.S. is the North American Free Trade Agreement.
The so called brain drain is actually a brain gain. The ratio is 1:4, for every Canadian going to the U.S., Canada is gaining four U.S. educated students. Immigrants are three times more likely to hold a master’s degree, doctoral or medical degree than the Canadian born population is. Therefore, this says that people who are immigrating into Canada are keeping more of their degrees, than people immigrating to the states. In the end not all the people moving to the states stay there, there is a small percentage of them moving back. Maybe because in the states they aren’t getting all the benefits Canadians are getting. For example medical care.
The facts state that this is a brain drain. There are more than one hundred thousand skilled Canadians moving out of Canada each year. This includes graduates and people who are being offered better paying job.
A recent poll said that eight out of ten Canadian’s have considered moving to the U.S. Eighty one percent say that the biggest lure is the higher pay.
“Just over 4,600 post-secondary graduates from the class of 1995 were living in the United States as of the summer of 1997. By the time of the survey in March 1999, about 830 (18%) of these graduates had moved back to Canada”.
Canada is a country that was built by immigration. Every year, thousands of hopeful immigrants come to Canada in order to have a better life. And for some, a better life can be achieved. However, for many others, this is simply not the case. In recent years, the number of visible minority immigrants has increased. And while this country’s ethnic diversity has benefitted from this influx, the economic landscape has shifted in a way to disfavor them. This economic disparity can be found through the income inequality that many immigrants face due to their educational background, low social and cultural capital, and occupational choices. It is these factors that have led to an overqualified work force, higher unemployment rates, and a widening
Before the war, Canada’s most important sector in its economy was agriculture. However, this was changing drastically after and during the war as industry began to take over as being more important. Canadian production of war material, food supplies, and raw materials had been crucial during the war. After the war, it was only natural that big investments were being made in mining, production, transportation, and services industries. Canadian cities were becoming very important contributors to the economy. This was also bringing in waves of post-war immigration, the backbone of Canada’s multicultural society we know today.
The post-war time was a period where major changes were occurring. After being involved in two international conflicts, Canada was ready to reestablish their economy. During this time, Canada had started working on ways to become stronger and reputable. It is evident that Canada had matured through the post-war era. Canada’s economic progress left a positive impact on the growth of the country as consumerism became popular, and economic ties with America became stronger. Moreover, the removal of racial and ethical barriers contributed to Canadian social affairs such as the huge wave of immigration and the baby boom. The Canadian government also had become more aware and involved in issues impacting Canadian citizens. Canada as a whole started identifying itself as an independent nation and participating in events that brought a positive reputation amongst them. These economical, social, and legal changes helped Canada mature into the country it is today.
Quinlan, Don, Doug Baldwin, Rick Mahoney, and Kevin Reed. The Canadian Challenge. N.p.: Oxford University Press, 2008.
There is no denying that immigration will always be a factor in the development of the United States. Whether it is due to religious beliefs, economic problems or even war in their native country, emigrants will always come to America with hopes of starting a new life in the “Land of the Free”. Fortunately, the people who do choose to legally migrate to America are generally motivated for success and well-educated. Even the immigrants who are not well educated are motivated to succeed, work hard and take jobs in areas where labor forces are low or jobs that a native-born American may not even consider, effectively making them a contributing member of society.
But how would the assimilation begin? The answer is simple. If Quebec were to win a referendum and leave Canada, we would lose much of our industry. After Quebec, the maritime provinces would also leave, which would cripple us further. In desperate need of a stable economy, we would begin negotiations with the United States. The House of Commons would become a meaningless symbol, along with many of our historical buildings and monuments.
Immigration provides very constant growth in the labor force, which is helping the Canadian labor market. With the amount of immigrants coming into Canada, there is an increase of jobs being taken in the Canadian labor force. They make up to 70% of labor force and most likely will increase higher percent in the future. The immigrants who have provided their needs for the Canadian labor market for growth and its success take up a great portion of the Canadian labor force population. The immigrants who have come into Canada are skilled workers, (entrepreneurs, investors, professionals, etc) or are unskilled workers (farmers, plumbers, electricians, laborers, etc.).
People outside of Canada are baffled at how Canada ended up in such a state of affairs. Canada as a country has a lot going for it. A high GNP, and high per capita income in international terms. It is ranked at the top of the...
Newman, Garfield et al. Canada A Nation Unfolding. Toronto: Mc Graw – Hill Ryerson Limited, 2000.
More immigration lead to racism and fear among both English Canadians who believed immigrants were taking away their jobs and French Canadians who feared that immigrants may potentially dominate their culture. These misconceptions and fears lead the Canadian government to declare new regulations that restricted the immigration of Asian and eastern, and southern European descents as well as Jewish immigrants. Canada gave more preference to descendants of both Britain and Western Europe. Policies were then developed to grant access to the best immigrants (as it was called) who were mainly whites that possessed a wealth of skills and benefits but to exclude the non whites who we...
High educated and talented people is the fundamental for the economic development in the cities. In Detroit, many workers in the car industries are either unskilled or low skilled workers with only high school diplomas simply because of those works do not need special talents or skills in order to have the work done. Due to the division of labor, large jobs are breaking down into many tiny components. “Under this regime each worker becomes an expert in one isolated area of production, thus increasing his efficiency” (Adam Smith). Detroit was not creating suitable jobs for high educated or professional people to work there; therefore, it caused the brain drain. Brain drain by definition means “the departure of educated or professional people from one country, economic sector, or field for another usually for better pay or living conditions (Merriam Webster Dictionary). This means that high skil...
In the 1990s, 95% of feature films, about 70% of retail sales of sound recordings, 60% of television programs come from abroad, overwhelmingly from the United States. 80% of magazines, 70% of books come from abroad, of which overwhelmingly from the United States especially in the educational publication, only 25 %of educational book publishers in Canada were Canadian. At the supermarkets, the shops such as McDonald’s, Wal-Mart chain stores went into Canada on a ...
Stoffman, Daniel. Who gets in: What's wrong with Canada's immigration program, and how to fix it. Toronto: Macfarlane Walter & Ross, 2002.
Finally, if the comparison were ever made a survey, it would really show the full scale of Americanization in Canada. But until now we can only see from the daily life, how American culture is inviting Canada. Today more then ever, Canadians are in real danger of loosing their national identity. It is unfortunate that if the study of this cultural influence will be done few years later, it might be too late to save Canadian culture and identity.
According to Statistic Canada, in 2016, Canada had 1,212,075 new immigrants who had permanently settled in Canada from 2011 to 2016. These recent immigrants represented 3.5% of Canada’s total population in 2016. The majority (60.3%) of these new immigrants were admitted under the economic category, 26.8% were admitted under the family class to join family already in the country, and 11.6% were admitted to Canada as refugees. For the first time, Africa ranks second, ahead of Europe, as a source continent of recent immigrants to Canada, with a share of 13.4% in 2016. Asia (including the Middle East) remains, however, the top source continent of recent immigrants. In 2016, the majority (61.8%) of newcomers were born in Asia. More than one in five Canadians are Foreign-born. It is about 7,540,830 foreign-born individuals who came to Canada through the immigration process, representing over one-fifth (21.9%) of Canada’s total population. (Statistics Canada,