2 weeks Ago By Yvonne Lau
Canadian companies have a golden opportunity to attract and retain local and international talent in the next four years You can save this article by registering for free here . Or sign-in if you have an account. Canadians’ dreams of working in the United States have been crushed by President Donald Trump’s re-election and his isolationist policies , according to a new poll.
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Create an account or sign in to continue with your reading experience. Sign In or Create an Account Among Canadians who have considered moving to the U.S.
in the past five years, 52 per cent said Trump’s re-election has lowered their likelihood of relocating in the next four years, while 51 per cent said the new U.S. tariffs have had the same effect, according to the poll of more than 1,500 Canadians conducted in April by employment software platform Humi and Angus Reid Institute.
Trump’s alignment with Silicon Valley had led some to believe that a fresh exodus of Canada-based tech talent could take place during his second term. But the country’s increasingly adversarial “America first” strategy — from trade to diplomacy — has been the key catalyst in flipping the switch for many Canadians eyeing such a change. Get the latest headlines, breaking news and columns.
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In recent months, some high-profile U.S.-based academics have packed their bags for Canada.
For example, Timothy Snyder, a prominent Yale University scholar who researches authoritarianism and Ukraine, has now decamped to the University of Toronto indefinitely. Canadian universities are receiving a surge in student applications as the U.S.
slashes federal funding for schools and clamps down on international student visas. U.S.
scientists and medical professionals are also exploring options to move north. Canadian companies now have a golden opportunity to attract and retain local and international talent in the next four years, Kevin Kliman, the cofounder and chief executive of Humi, said. “People are working on it frantically right now because they see a window of opportunity,” he said.
“The capital gains tax proposed last year pushed many people to consider leaving Canada. But now, Trump’s 51st state rhetoric and the antagonistic nature of the U.S.
have really put people in action moving the other way. This is a rare chance to reverse the brain drain to Canada’s gain.” He said domestic businesses can leverage this moment by offering more competitive employee benefits and focusing on employees’ career development to ensure that “staying home is more attractive than going down south.
” Companies should also prioritize integrating modern technology, with Canada lagging the U.S. by four to five years in terms of tech adoption by small-to-medium-sized businesses, Kliman said.
“We can expedite these paths in a material way, which would go a long way to retaining people here,” he said. Canada has long served as a talent pipeline for the U.S.
in key industries such as technology. The primary drivers for relocating to the U.S.
have been higher compensation, lower taxes and better career opportunities. About one in five Canadians with a university education or higher have considered moving to the U.S.
for their careers in the past five years, according to the April poll. But the rate is higher for younger generations, with 29 per cent of gen-Zers and 23 per cent of millennials saying they’re likely to contemplate a move down south, compared to 17 per cent of gen-Xers and five per cent of baby boomers. Around 10 per cent of Canada’s science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) graduates moved to the U.
S. post-graduation, according to a 2021 study by the Narwhal Project, a research firm that studies Canadian startups and entrepreneurs. Other reports show even higher figures, such as an unofficial count of the University of Waterloo’s 2022 software engineering class, which said 71 per cent of students accepted job offers in the U.
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