Canada's Brain Gain

We used to bemoan the fact that Canada had a shortage of medical doctors, and we still do. But we are slowly increasing the numbers of physicians practising in the country, even though there is still an estimated 6% of Canadians who say they cannot find a family doctor to look after their basic medical/health needs. That number is slowly decreasing.

Thanks in part to fewer health professionals leaving Canada - where their professional education has been subsidized through tax-payer assists - for greener pastures in the United States. And thanks also to Canadian universities accepting larger numbers of students in their medical studies programs, along with fast-tracking credentialed foreign medical practitioners who have emigrated to Canada.

In fact, it would appear that the brain drain that took so many of Canada's professionals, graduating and otherwise, in a wide variety of disciplines and sciences abroad to seek their fortunes outside the country that gave them birth and an education, is in reverse mode. Not only are Canadians now choosing to remain within Canada, but many of those who have left are also returning.

Part of the reason is that with the global financial crisis, Canada stands out among the G20 countries as one least hit by economic woes. Our unemployment rate never matched that of the United States and Europe, and soon enough descended, while business did a definite up-tick, thanks to our more secure banking and other institutions. We're well ensconced in recovery mode.

"Canada has gone from brain drain to brain gain" the Chronicle of Higher Education, a Washington, D.C.-based journal has pronounced. The Chronicle, in their feature story, stated that "Today, amid intensifying global competition for the best and brightest, Canada is on a roll, importing research stars and nurturing young Canadians and foreign scholars and postdoctoral students. The talk now is of brain gain, not brain drain."

So good on us. Prime Minister Stephen Harper announced 157 recipients of this year's Vanier Canada Graduate Scholarships, at McMaster University. Recipients pursue studies in the fields of clinical epidemiology and biostatistics, psychiatry, neuroscience, English, chemistry, biomedical engineering, and geography. "We are here to celebrate potential", claimed the university president.

The scholarships, launched in 2009, have been awarded to 507 students. Canada has committed to inviting international students from the United States, Europe, Africa and Asia to further their academic education and their careers in Canada, with $50,000 in annual funding for three years of study at Canadian universities.