The next federal government, of either party, ought to make such skilled-talent drains easier (it's actually extremely hard): - Create a new Canada Scholars program to fund incoming faculty - Ease the huge moving tax penalty - Make it legally possible for them to buy a house - ThreadSky

dougsaunders.bsky.social • 66 days ago

The next federal government, of either party, ought to make such skilled-talent drains easier (it's actually extremely hard):
- Create a new Canada Scholars program to fund incoming faculty
- Ease the huge moving tax penalty
- Make it legally possible for them to buy a house

Comments

dougsaunders.bsky.social•66 days ago

Canada's ban on "foreigners" buying homes (a bad idea to start with --we WANT investment in housing, and who cares what citizenship or immigration status an investor has) does have an exemption for universities -- but it's capped at $500k, so the top 3 universities are forced to buy houses for profs

sergioten.bsky.social•66 days ago

The exception for people coming on work visas don't seem to include a $500K cap (the cap seems to be only for people coming on a student visa):

sergioten.bsky.social•66 days ago

This is from the CMHC page:
https://www.cmhc-schl.gc.ca/professionals/housing-markets-data-and-research/housing-research/consultations/prohibition-purchase-residential-property-non-canadians-act?guide=EXCEPTIONS%20CONTAINED%20IN%20THE%20ACT%20AND%20REGULATIONS

liftupalways.bsky.social•66 days ago

$500k won’t even get you a decent condo in Vancouver.

rayhoang.bsky.social•65 days ago

The first one might be the hardest part. It's still political suicide to fund universities ever since the immigration student fiasco.

dougsaunders.bsky.social•65 days ago

The foreign-student glut was done by provinces — mainly Ontario — specifically as a way to fund universities and colleges. Far from political suicide, Ontario is now proposing a 10% increase in budget allocations for PSE institutions after Ottawa capped their foreign-student numbers.

rayhoang.bsky.social•59 days ago

I get it. But people still blame universities and colleges. And that 10% isnt enough to fill the gap from the students.

evangowan.bsky.social•65 days ago

I have to say, I left Canada 15 years ago to pursue my academic goals. Why would the government pay Americans to come when they have provided so little for domestic researchers? I would absolutely love to take an offer to come back to Canada, but not much has come up since I left.

dougsaunders.bsky.social•65 days ago

If Japan’s universities had practiced the sort of birthplace-based discrimination implied in your suggestion, isn’t it likely you wouldn’t have a position there? It seems they took a similar approach of hiring the best without domestic preference, and got you. Shouldn’t Canada want to do the same?

evangowan.bsky.social•65 days ago

I don't have a position here either. If you are not Japanese it is incredibly difficult to get a job here.

evangowan.bsky.social•65 days ago

All countries favour citizens over international applicants. The difference with the United States was that they put so much investment into research that they could hire both domestic and international researchers in large numbers. Canada has not done the same thing.

gordondouglas.bsky.social•66 days ago

Why is this a federal issue when Ontario, for example, is defunding universities?

Seems like whoever wins shouldn't let Ford off the hook for failing to fund universities.

dougsaunders.bsky.social•66 days ago

It‘s not about the funding of universities

gordondouglas.bsky.social•66 days ago

Isn't it? Ontario universities are talking about closing programs. Colleges are cancelling programs with high enrollment because it's all domestic students, so the tuition cap means it loses money. Seems like the sector is in crisis and paying for specific academics is less of a priority.

dougsaunders.bsky.social•65 days ago

The underfunding of universities by provinces is definitely a serious liability. But the important strategic opportunity to capture top talent from the United States at graduate and doctoral level is an unrelated concern mostly involving federal policies in immigration, taxation etc

struthious.bsky.social•65 days ago

I'm not sure how it generalizes but most people I know who rejected U of T for american universities did so because the stipend was laughable

tim4hire.bsky.social•66 days ago

It also means the universities are less able to provide resources and stability for academics; including maintenance, investment in buildings and equipment, support staff, etc. All of that makes it harder to recruit and retain talent.

gordondouglas.bsky.social•65 days ago

Yeah, seems like a better policy would be to provide some sort of comprehensive funding for universities generally that also addresses the student visa cap.

gordondouglas.bsky.social•65 days ago

Would also add that, for all the issues affecting Canada's economy with international trade, one sector we can actually deal with pretty locally is higher education, which can provide all kinds of other benefits.

doctorzen.net•65 days ago

What institutions do you think hire the most researchers? Because that is the profession that started this thread.

doctorzen.net•65 days ago

Also, there are a lot of Canadian researchers living in the US who might appreciate a chance to move home.

🙋

sjonespoet.bsky.social•65 days ago

How about we pay our exploited and precarious researchers first?

dougsaunders.bsky.social•65 days ago

Same subject. These would be our researchers.

johnnynucleo.bsky.social•66 days ago

Canadians had to leave for USA because of insufficient funds. We should pay to bring them back and fund our home-grown researchers. Bring in a few others who are at the top of their field (like those in the article) but focus should be on a Canadian strategy to stop the brain drain.

holz-bau.bsky.social•66 days ago

not just legally possible to buy a house - but economically possible too.

more point access blocks!

dougsaunders.bsky.social•66 days ago

Well, you can deal with "economically" with decent salaries. The problem is that Americans aren't legally allowed to buy houses in Canada until they get citizenship. So the universities have to buy them a house, which SEVERELY limits the # of faculty they can afford to import

johnnynucleo.bsky.social•66 days ago

Citizenship is not required to buy a house. There are exemptions for temporary and permanent residents. , if you believe the CMHC. https://www.cmhc-schl.gc.ca/professionals/housing-markets-data-and-research/housing-research/consultations/prohibition-purchase-residential-property-non-canadians-act?guide=EXCEPTIONS%20CONTAINED%20IN%20THE%20ACT%20AND%20REGULATIONS

yousaf.bsky.social•66 days ago

UBC somehow dealt with this through their faculty housing and have been on a hiring spree poaching profs from the US across the board the last several years

ehemess.bsky.social•66 days ago

The hit to Universities, cultural institutions such as orchestras, museums, conservatories etc and the disregard/punishment for academics, artists, musicians and the like will be coming soon. The United States will become a cultural wasteland.

mendelmatt.bsky.social•66 days ago

Whole-of society-approach need to recruit and protect Americans looking to do great work and flee that mess.

Institutions other than the federal government need to step up.

nataliebrender.bsky.social•66 days ago

In the unlikely event that this becomes a priority, a world of criticism will be aimed at any choices re which good work by which kinds of talent to support. Bluntly pragmatic messaging will be needed. https://bsky.app/profile/palumboliu.bsky.social/post/3llaqhta6ys2u

brianpatrick2003.bsky.social•66 days ago

It's more than just poaching the faculty. Most of them (at least in the physical sciences) have large research groups and infrastructure that also need to move. And just when we've severely cut the number of student visas available to foreigners.

Comments

Posting Rules

Reply