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More like a brain hiatus Much has been said about whether or not Canada is suffering from a brain drain. The Mirror interviewed one of these drained brains: John Charlton, a computer techie who snagged a six-figure contract at a car company in Detroit (brother of Mirror staff writer Jacquie), to see why he left. Mirror: Did you leave Canada because of the high taxes? John Charlton: No. I just got a really good offer. M: Why are salaries so much lower in Canada than the States? JC: Maybe because that's the going rate in Canada. Employers are getting away with it because they know the cost of living is cheaper in Canada. It's the same reason they pay people less in India. M: Do you want to stay in the States? JC: I'd work in Canada for a lot less than what I'd take in the States. I work with a whole bunch of Canadians who only go to the States for work. All they want to do is save up enough money to buy a house in Canada, and then get the hell out of the U.S. M: Is it that bad? JC: When you cross over the border into Canada this paranoia you've acquired down there lifts. You don't have to worry about hitting a detour and getting lost in the wrong part of town. Nobody feels intimidated by anyone else. In the States you have to have a flashier car, you have to have the perfect body. And if it's not the perfect body, you just give up on it altogether. The health food stores are 80 per cent pills. Meanwhile, I can't get bread at bakeries; all they sell is cakes. --Jacquie Charlton |