I've recently joined a Canadian startup, and I'm less cynical than I was at one point—and I'm an emigré from the U.S. in any case (who has gotten invitations to

I've recently joined a Canadian startup, and I'm less cynical than I was at one point—and I'm an emigré from the U.S. in any case (who has gotten invitations to interview with several big-name U.S. organizations). 1. Yes, a lot of folks who can't see past the dollars leave. I've done the math and for me to work in the Valley, I would need to make almost three times what I make, because I'd also be losing my wife's teacher salary as income (which is about 80% of my current salary). She also doesn't want to live in the U.S.—we happen to like our health care and the relative calm of Canada. 2. There are several startups in the space where I work (we are all at least partially funded by the same fund) and they're all pretty interesting. 3. Sadly, you're right about the Harper government's unfriendliness toward immigration. At some point, they will be turfed and saner immigration policies will be reinstated. Hopefully, someone will also have the political will to fix our shameful treatment of certain skilled immigrants as well (doctors should not be invited to Canada on the basis of their skills and then denied certification because the provinces have jurisdiction over said certification). 4. If you're in the right spots in Toronto, it's fairly easy to find startups. If you're not, it's harder. I suspect it's a bit like New York, where there's a lot of financial software development because Toronto, like New York, is the financial centre of its country. 5. I'm not sure what the government influence through things like SR&ED is…every company I've worked for that used SR&ED basically came up with submittable work based on what we did as part of our regular roadmap. I'm quite happy to stay here and work for startups here.