[garbawarb]

> “It’s the Valley-or-bust mentality that breaks the ecosystem and really hurts Canada,” Gomez said.

Canadian pride isn't enough to keep a company in Canada. There are real and significant economic incentives to move elsewhere. That said, it's disappointing that YC no longer supports Canadian companies.

[tptacek]

Presumably it continues to support them the same way it supports 386 companies headquartered in Europe, 218 in South Asia, 217 in Latin America, 106 in Southeast Asia, 87 in Africa, 71 in MENA, 23 in East Asia, and 14 in Oceania, all locales where you previously had to do a flipped company structure to participate in YC.

[kdazzle]

[flagged]

[am3141]

Well it’s the USA / Valley pride what built that ecosystem there. It wasn’t always like that even in the US. A long time ago, the US congress had to pass a law to incorporate a company. It went from there to whats its now because of that pride. We want that pride here in Canada to build our own ecosystem.

[PostOnce]

Economic incentives are only one of the many incentives weighing on the scales. There are others.

[garbawarb]

Like which?

[ooooppppppp]

Attractiveness to talent?

Fairly senior dev, US citizen here (20 years experience).

After what I've seen this past year, but more the past month, I will work for peanuts for a path to citizenship in Canada. US in 5 years is not a place I want to be, looking into all options and very serious.

[jleyank]

If you have skills in one of the many categories, and with 20 years in tech you should, get the offer. Once armed with an offer from a Canadian company you can handle the visa at the border. For Quebec-based companies you have to have a handle on French but for the rest of Canada it's a skills and education based system for getting permanent residency.

[Joel_Mckay]

The wage difference for IT workers is often 3:1 or higher in the US economy, as Canada has 1/10th the population with higher ratios of university alumni.

Starting a business in the USA is often far more lucrative, but people usually still incorporate in both countries for tax and liability reasons.

Things like the Canadian youth tax-credits also mean anyone over 28 gets pushed down the list for entry-level positions. The US is far easier to find a reasonable job, and the cultural tradition of entrepreneurship is far better. =3

[garbawarb]

The lifestyle difference is real but the income difference is enough to sway most people to the US. If Canada can close the gap on that I'd say it can become an even more attractive place for global tech talent than the US because of its overall better livability.

[Roscius]

Live in Canada and work remotely into the US. Been doing it for the last 6 years...

[Joel_Mckay]

Or be a digital nomad in a tropical paradise, and avoid the 46% income-tax rate.

Depends how secure your position is I guess... =3

[garbawarb]

Can you still earn the same salary as you would in the US though?

[anon291]

It is difficult to take anyone worried about the US seriously when their solution to protect themselves is to move to Canada.

Not saying anyone's right or wrong but the idea that, should America go psycho, Canada would somehow be okay is a pipe dream. Canada is essentially an outpost of the United States. Yes, I have Canadian family (even old stock "Loyalist" Canadian family) and they all feel the same way.

People need to be real.

If you actually want to be able to declare independence from America you'd need citizenship in a country with actual nuclear capability. France, the UK, China, etc

[oooopppppppp]

It's a step improvement: It gets you over the border to a comparable place while being close enough to family for now. The risk of "borders are secure now, nobody gets to leave" is non-zero in the US' future. The way political litmus tests are affecting civil rights here is scary as hell too.

On the military angle, I'd much rather live in a country without nukes. But I'm willing to kick the nuclear blackmail risk can down the road, my own government's threats are way more immediate.

[anon291]

> borders are secure now, nobody gets to leave

This is honestly insane.

> On the military angle, I'd much rather live in a country without nukes.

That's because the majority of the typical American with these views is extremely privileged and has never actually had to live in a country without nukes. Ukraine is the future of countries without nukes -- forced to choose between great powers or made into buffer zones without any prospects. It's all so tiresome really.

[mlrtime]

Let them have their opinion, the number is so small it's meaningless.

People have been saying they are moving to Canada for decades due to whatever recent events, statistics say otherwise.

[anon291]

If everyone who wanted to move to Canada actually moved to Canada, Canada would be filled to the brim. It's like the modern day Shangri-la. A mythical land.. far far away.