This past week at Collision Toronto, Canada unveiled a new " Tech Talent Strategy " that includes a number of initiatives designed to attract more human capital across the science, technology, engineering, and math sectors. (Sidebar: The STEM sectors are great, but I'm really a fan of STEAM .)
At a high level, these measures are intended to continue to grow Canada as a hub for global tech talent. So they cover things like promoting Canada as a destination for digital nomads , improving the Start-up Visa Program, and dunking on US immigration policies by creating an open work permit stream for H-1B specialty occupation visa holders.
Overall, it seems great.
But there are people who are concerned about the pace of immigration in Canada. Over the past year (ending in Q2-2023), the country added about 1.2 million people . This is a record. And perhaps the greatest concern, is that we simply aren't building enough housing and related infrastructure.
But I don't get this logic. Canada is a relatively small country. Attracting smart and ambitious people from around the world is good for us. And there are simple ways to address these concerns: build more housing and related infrastructure. I'm pretty sure that we can figure out how to do that.