Canada is North America’s up-and-coming startup center

The word is out in the last few years though with any young developer googling Vancouver. Low pay, high cost of living not worth it. Even the founder of Hootsuite wrote an op-ed and the situation is only worse since the 2 years ago he wrote that. Something that pays 125,000USD in SF pays like 78,000CAD here. Condo's are $1000/sqft still.

What's sad is that Canada has a very good public school system all the way from Kindergarten to University. Combined with the lower costs (i.e. free K-12 for these good schools unlike Americans sending kids to private schools) and reduced stress on children due to lack of a standardized university entrance exam, Canada SHOULD be a place where people want to have families.

That being said, I'm a product of the public schooling system in Scarborough/Markham. Which could possibly have the best free public schools in North America.

An obscure bylaw in the TechCrunch corporate charter mandates them to publish a 'why is the next Silicon Valley' article every two months. Rumor has it that in the bottom desk of the editor's drawer is a jar of used blood from the last time vampire Thiel had a hemocyte change and a dart has its tip wetted with this foul ichor before being thrown across the room at a large map. Whoever does not turn away from viewing the ritual fast enough is assigned the story.

This article doesn't mention one of the major reasons for talent leaving Canada: if you work there, you need to stomach a 50% pay cut in average salaries vs the US. This is true pretty much across the board regardless of tech niche on the 2017 Stack Overflow Developer Survey[1]:

Machine learning specialist: US 108k, Canada 53k (49%)

Embedded applications/devices developer: US 100k, Canada 53k (53%)

Systems administrator: US 90k, Canda 49k (55%)

Doubling your salary by moving south across the border is a very tempting option, especially considering that NAFTA makes it extremely easy to do so. No need to wait for an H1-B, just show up at the border with job offer & credentials in hand, assuming you've graduated college. TN visas are instant and infinitely renewable.

[1] https://stackoverflow.com/insights/survey/2017#work-salaries...

I think there are a number of factors here, and I don't think social factors should be ruled out.

There are a number of startups here, but there are also many community/social innovation hubs[1] and organizations that draw in a lot of people who come here to start something up.

The number of jobs I have seen posted for the "Next Flipp!" the "Next Uber!!!" is outstanding. How many flyer-aggregate apps do people really need? There's an odd lack of creative capital in business for a city that prides itself on the arts.

I think some of that is due to social pressures. Many in the arts here, at least the people who would need the money, seem to think earning any real money is evil unless you earned your $10.50 an hour working on the line in a diner kitchen. As if a financially successful business is inherently a corrupt business.

Other organizations like Enterprise Toronto[2] seem like great ideas to bolster people in theory, but (speaking only from my experience) it seems to attract people who want to only run their quaint one-man dev-designer gig with enough money to do what they want, and all the free time to do it. Sounds kind of nice, but the city is flooded with people who have the same dream. (Maybe there's more space for it these days, and maybe I should get in on it).

Your last paragraph raises very good questions, and the answers are probably too many: the best talent goes to California/New York/Boston(/Waterloo?), or otherwise the best talent here doesn't get into business but stays in academics. Some of the highest capital here seems to be made through selling to American companies.[3] Then of course the social factors I mentioned: it might just be that the dream is a little different for a lot of people who come here. They didn't necessarily come to strike it big with a company, but more for the culture of the place. Like you put it: having startups is not essential for a great city.

[1] https://socialinnovation.org/ [2] http://www1.toronto.ca/wps/portal/contentonly?vgnextoid=0323... [3] https://motherboard.vice.com/en_us/article/why-is-canadian-m...

edit: I should add the obligatory MaRS is an awesome resource comment. https://www.marsdd.com/