Canada's Economic Advantages

On July 5, 2007, Microsoft announced the opening of the Microsoft Canada Development Centre in Vancouver, B.C. (there's a Vancouver in Washington State!) in the fall of 2007. According to S. Somasegar, corporate vice president of the Developer Division at Microsoft, “Our goal as a company is to attract the next generation of leading software developers from all parts of the world, and this center will be a beacon for some of that talent.” Phil Sorgen, president of Microsoft Canada, said, “We have long advocated that Canada would be a wonderful place to locate Microsoft development. We have burgeoning high-tech and software industries and a globally envied quality of life, and our cities represent exactly the kind of environment that leading information workers want to live in. This center will help Microsoft remain globally competitive while providing strong economic benefits to British Columbia and Canada.” This press release also noted that, "The Vancouver area is a global gateway with a diverse population, is close to Microsoft’s corporate offices in Redmond and allows the company to recruit and retain highly skilled people affected by immigration issues in the U.S."

I think this is but one example of the kinds of advantages that Canada should be promoting in order to strengthen its economy.

1. Be a place that talented, creative people want to live in, especially our fellow Canadians who might otherwise seek greener pastures abroad.
2. Be welcoming to immigrants from all over the world and make Canada a place where people of different cultural backgrounds live and work well together.
3. Be connected to the rest of the world.
4. Take advantage of dumb moves by other countries: in this case US immigration authorities blindly limiting the number of visas for foreign workers.