The Brain Drain

For those of you who don’t know, a brain drain is said to exist from Canada to the United States. The U.S. is said to be luring Canada’s most sought after and brightest with offers of more money and better jobs. The Canadian media laments the loss long and loud to whomever is willing to listen. A tragedy, they say. Perhaps they cannot figure out how we are to maintain our standard of living with this going on.

I disagree.

No I’m not going to bore you with tales of Canadian immigrants coming in with their own skills. That has already been done. And perhaps they have plans to eventually go to the States as their ultimate destination.

I hope the brain drain continues. In fact, I really wish it would pick up the pace. Why?, you ask. Because eventually I hope to be the undisputed most intelligent person in Canada. The smartest in a whole country. How many people can say that? 200?

Imagine. Being the most sought after for any job. No one stepping on your little personal theories and saying wrong-o, Charlie. No one else being a know-it-all so you could fill the air with all the little trivia you happen to know. It sounds like quite a good system.

There is a downside to it all. What if the brain drain continues and continues and continues? Canada’s population would recede. What if I find that all the smartest people left and now there’s only me?

Well I’d still be the smartest person in Canada. Pessimists would point out that I’m also the stupidest but I wouldn’t hear it being across the border from them.

But I’d get lonely. So what to do? The U.S. has a 9 times bigger population base than Canada right now. Statistically there’d be about 9 people at the same intelligence as me. Nine of them! I could pick and choose who I wanted and bring them up here so I wouldn’t get lonely and still be the smartest person in a country.