Or now work for Pratt and Whitney Canada, for a wage inferior to that of US engineers, making engines that we then buy while the profits go to the US.

I don't see why they simply wouldn't go work in the US if that was the case. Unless they aren't qualified enough.

"just move", basically. This is an absurd argument at the scale of a country, and even more absurd at an international scale.

If they weren't qualified the industry wouldn't have been poached. Rather, this suggests that at least at some point they were significantly more qualified than those in the US.

They better get used to it: the current government had no problem pitching to Amazon that Canada was a cheap offshoring destination for engineers[1].

[1]https://nationalpost.com/news/canada/city-of-vancouver-criti...

I can think of a number of good reasons why someone would want to live in Canada and not the US

If you want them to stay in Canada and use their skills to the utmost, lower your cost of capital. Do everything that you can to make it easier to save and invest in Canada, and look to Silicon Valley and emulate their good attributes, such as banning non competes.

Fairchild Semiconductor fathered a thousand companies. How many did BlackBerry?

Don’t rely on a committee of bureaucrats shuffling tax money to their idea of the best companies (The ones that their brother works at or the ones that best wine and fined them).

Take the money from those government schmoes and use it to cut taxes on and barriers to investment. Make it easier for entrepreneurs to stay and build, and to raise money.

Buy your weapons in the open market, and save.

Silicon Valley is an excellent example of decades long government funding and commitment spawning a world leading ecosystem.

See e.g. https://steveblank.com/secret-history/ for a nice overview.

Well, many went to work on Apollo.