The biggest struggle I've heard from a lot of Canadian companies is the difficulty of holding onto talent given the proximity of the US and the fact that Canadians are blessed with a far simpler visa process than other foreigners. Doesn't that effect become even worse as CAD drops relative to USD if employers in Canada don't make up the difference?

For example, that $2000/mo USD rent is now $2900/mo CAD instead of the $2000 CAD it used to be. Your $900/mo rent in Canada is now $600/mo USD!

So you have to look at the total profit margin to make more sense of it. It's definitely a great time to start paying your Canadian student loans and to work in the USA! It's also really good to work remotely and still live in Canada.

You'd think, but every bigcorp I've suggested this arrangement to says it would want to put me on the payroll of their Canadian subcorporation, paid out in CAD at a 1:1 conversion of the USD rate. Kind of a lousy bargain, all told (though one I'm currently taking anyway from IBM.)

Best is to work remotely, but if you move across for a couple of years, when you come back, this is a new house paid cash.

I can understand it's hard for people with family, but otherwise I really don't understand why young engineer stay here.

I'm sure it will drive salaries up, but the falling CAD means that (in USD terms) Canada is becoming a cheaper place to live. There's no point earning $50k more by moving to the valley if your cost of living will increase by $75k.