I checked into Canada's immigration laws, specifically regarding the question of what kind of residency they'd give us if we located there and did our startup. (some of us are US citizens, but one of us is from a commonwealth country, so canada seemed like a reasonable choice.)

Canada does not make it easy, to say the least, to come there and build a company and, eventually, hire canadians. (Not that the USA is much better either).

If you want more immigrants to come and create jobs, allow people to immigrate.