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> We are squandering our future,” said Jim Balsillie, former co-CEO of BlackBerry Ltd., whose smartphones were once ubiquitous. Canada isn’t benefiting from rec

> We are squandering our future,” said Jim Balsillie, former co-CEO of BlackBerry Ltd., whose smartphones were once ubiquitous. Canada isn’t benefiting from recent innovations local researchers have made in artificial intelligence, voice- and image-recognition and self-driving automobiles because they are employed by foreign firms that own the intellectual property, said Mr. Balsillie. For many years, policy in Canada seems to have been to attract foreign companies to set up offices and factories here. The bold dream seems to be of being the foreign high-skill labour capital of the world. Instead of finding ways to promote local entrepreneurship, the government worries whether Canadian law will scare big tech from creating jobs for us. At least we have Shopify. Apparently PlentyOfFish, Ashley Madison, and PornHub too :facepalm:

avocado4 7y ago
Canadian tech scene is not bad given the small population and relatively recent investments in this area. That is, compared to EU where there's pretty much no tech other than Spotify, and any promising upstarts are getting preemptively destroyed by EU and local governments. It takes decades to build Silicon Valley, and Canada's focus on foreign talent, business friendly regulation, and general North American enterprising culture might get it there over time.
- trilila 7y ago
  In the EU, London, Uk a nodejs developer earns around 800 cad per day as a consultant, and there so many jobs that usually you find a new one in 1-2 days max a week. Tho much lower, Germany is also a good tech market. I am not sure what your statement is based on. When i assessed moving to Canada from the uk, not only were there far less companies but tech was a bit out date as well and pay was way way lower. Care to support your statement with evidence? Edit: you can find eu jobs on cwjobs.co.uk and stepstone.de to get an idea of how large the gap between canada and the eu is.
  - avocado4 7y ago
    I'm not considering the UK a part of EU anymore.
- est31 7y ago
  > any promising upstarts are getting preemptively destroyed by EU and local governments. Could you give examples? I'm curious.
- purple_ducks 7y ago
  > pretty much no tech other than Spotify, > any promising upstarts are getting preemptively destroyed by EU and local governments. What kind of silliness is this comment?

avocado4 7y ago

Canadian tech scene is not bad given the small population and relatively recent investments in this area. That is, compared to EU where there's pretty much no tech other than Spotify, and any promising upstarts are getting preemptively destroyed by EU and local governments. It takes decades to build Silicon Valley, and Canada's focus on foreign talent, business friendly regulation, and general North American enterprising culture might get it there over time.

trilila 7y ago
In the EU, London, Uk a nodejs developer earns around 800 cad per day as a consultant, and there so many jobs that usually you find a new one in 1-2 days max a week. Tho much lower, Germany is also a good tech market. I am not sure what your statement is based on. When i assessed moving to Canada from the uk, not only were there far less companies but tech was a bit out date as well and pay was way way lower. Care to support your statement with evidence? Edit: you can find eu jobs on cwjobs.co.uk and stepstone.de to get an idea of how large the gap between canada and the eu is.
- avocado4 7y ago
  I'm not considering the UK a part of EU anymore.
est31 7y ago
> any promising upstarts are getting preemptively destroyed by EU and local governments. Could you give examples? I'm curious.
purple_ducks 7y ago
> pretty much no tech other than Spotify, > any promising upstarts are getting preemptively destroyed by EU and local governments. What kind of silliness is this comment?