u/DankgisKhan

Yes, yes, I know reddit is a pile of hot garbage. But as an immigrant to Canada myself, I found this exchange between a Ukrainian and Canadian to be basically the same interaction that I have with Canadians on a regular basis. Canada is only so "welcoming" to immigrants and refugees because they offer cheap labor and won't bite back against their masters. The humanitarian motive is literally a lipstick cover story that Canadians just eat right up. Sure, a few lucky ones will get tech jobs, but many Ukrainian refugees are essentially just slaves to supplement the army of Indians that are already here.

But if you, as an immigrant, point this out to Canadians, they are deeply offended and take it as a personal criticism that you don't share their vision that it's the best country that has ever existed.

IMO, there is no hope for Canada specifically because valid criticism from outside perspectives has no place in their society.

Without doxing myself, I'm a very specific type of technical engineer in Canada. For work, I have to attend industry conferences in the US, Canada, the EU, and now China, where I interact with dozens of colleagues and experts in my field from around the world.

I would say 2016-2019 was the absolute peak of energy in this particular sector. Everyone was getting paid very well and the cost of living was very easily manageable. Everyone was free to focus on our projects and new ideas were flowing very fast. Real technical innovations were emerging and I was seriously excited to attend these conferences. I would spend my entire time nerding out and spirits were high - regardless of where the conference was (US, EU, etc).

I just finished two conferences, one in North America and another in China. I spent the entire American conference listening to all of my colleagues complaining about the cost of living, the stagnant salaries, and the constant fear of layoffs. Discussion about the technology and projects we are working on was maybe just 20% of our discussions, and even then, it was a lot of rehashing of old ideas. Nothing inspiring. A sense of despair hung over everything. Granted, my European colleagues were more neutral, but I heard nothing positive from Americans and Canadians. And as a side note to this, there is even more sense of despair looking down to the new ass licking Gen Z engineers entering the field, who are generating their plans and models with AI, and kissing up to executives to push out us 35yo "old timers."

The conference in China was a completely different story, you'd think you were on another planet. Granted, this was my first conference in China, but I was shocked at the level of dedication, motivation, and thoughtful discussion I had with my Chinese counterparts. Perhaps it's because I'm a foreigner, but they really didn't care to talk about their daily struggles. They were full of energy and motivated to talk about projects and ideas. They didn't really come across as people worried about losing their standard of living.

My point - I really don't see how the US/Canada can continue to be a world leader in innovation when some of the best engineers, scientists, and researchers I know are feeling burned out, deflated, and that there's no point to any of this because they will not achieve their dreams living in America. This experience is convincing me that China will win the technology war.

^(*I group the US and Canada together, because, let's be real. Nothing has changed with Conman Carney. Canada and the US are surgically attached at the hip.)

Humble Greek Priest Starterpack

Criticism from outsiders is practically hate speech to Canadians.