Time to increase our diversity advantage
Canadians benefit from a more open and tolerant society. There is no indication that these positive attitudes are flagging in the current downturn. The same cannot be said south of the border, where recent legislation has raised barriers for highly skilled immigrants.
This creates a significant opportunity for Canada.
One provision in the U.S. stimulus package is to “prohibit any recipient of TARP funding from hiring H-1B visa holders.” According to the Bank of America, the provision is forcing it to rescind job offers to foreign-born students graduating from U.S. business schools.
Contrary to the arguments of protectionists, skilled immigrants make an economy stronger. In fact, according to research conducted by the U.S. National Foundation for American Policy, for every H-1B position they requested, U.S. technology companies in the S&P 500 increased their employment by five workers.
As the Wall Street Journal concluded, “if U.S. companies can’t hire these skilled workers – many of whom graduate from U.S. universities, by the way – you can bet foreign competitors will. In the same Wall Street Journal issue, the leaders at Dartmouth’s Tuck School of Business expressed concern that these provisions will reduce the dynamism of the U.S. post-secondary education system. They concluded with foreign-born students finding less attractive employment prospects in the United States, it is quite likely fewer will enroll there. This policy mistake – driven by attitudes of fear – can be Canada’s opportunity.
Our universities are already admitting large numbers of students, including advanced graduate and doctoral students, from foreign countries. Foreign students represent a huge potential advantage because they bring skills and energy to Canada.
But, as the Martin Prosperity Institute found in Ontario, for example, there are currently economic disincentives for our universities to admit foreign students.
The Ontario government provides no support to foreign doctoral students, and they are the most expensive students to train. Given many doctoral students end up staying in Canada following graduation and have the skills and capabilities that are vital to our competitiveness in key fields, we should extend normal domestic doctoral student funding to foreign students. This will ensure we can compete for the world’s best and brightest students – and help Canada gain a global advantage in the search for talent as economic growth resumes.
This excerpt is from the report: Navigating through the recovery, released last week by the Task Force on Competitiveness, Productivity and Economic Progress.
Download the report from: www.competeprosper.ca/index.php/work/annual_reports/annual_report_8/
