OPINION: Dannie Brown 

The recent attention that the world has given to the Syrian outmigration of thousands and thousands of people has catapulted the discussion of who these emigrants are, and just what background and experience might they be bringing with them to our country — if we take in any.

It's not unreasonable to be concerned on some level about the security surrounding this many people who are on the move, and I applaud any government that is at least acknowledging this possibility.  That being said, and moving beyond that issue, I'd say: "Let's not look a gift horse in the mouth."

United States' research shows that immigrants are almost twice as likely to start businesses, as are native-born Americans. In fact, immigrants have been consistently more entrepreneurial than those who were native-born. In 2010, more than 40 per cent of the Fortune 500 companies were founded by an immigrant or the child of an immigrant. Staying in the U.S., immigrant-founded engineering and technology firms employed approximately 560,000 workers and generated $63bn in sales in 2012. That being said, there still exist many barriers for immigrants to bring their entrepreneurial ideas to reality in the U.S. A similar problem exists in Canada.

A second "gift horse," if you will, is found in the many international students who come to Canada every year to study abroad. Canada's birth rates are declining. Canada's immigration applications are backlogged for years. Our economy is lethargic at best, and facing new challenges from falling oil prices. However, on Jan. 1, 2015, new federal rules introduced by the Canadian government, "no longer give international students with Canadian work experience an automatic leg-up" when applying to stay in Canada permanently. The Canadian government said that in 2008, approximately $6.5bn was determined to be the approximate amount that international students contributed to the Canadian economy. Yang Xinyu, of the China Scholarship Council, reported that in the same year, some 180,000 post-secondary students left China to study at a college or university in another country — including Canada, but that less than 40 per cent of them returned to China upon completing their studies.

Entrepreneurship and innovation are critical to community economic development. They generate jobs, increase wages and the standard of living. In these times of youth outmigration from our province and a declining and aging population, it seems rather obvious that all levels of government need to work together to do whatever they can, as quickly as they can, to help potential entrepreneurs settle anywhere in Canada, especially in the Atlantic provinces, and begin contributing to our economic growth. Approximately 2,500 immigrants settle in Nova Scotia each year; the struggle we face is trying to keep all of them here. With high taxes and worn-out attitudes towards immigrants, many will find their way to larger, more multicultural, centres like Montreal, Toronto and Vancouver.

Dannie Brown is assistant professor of organizational management in the Shannon School of Business at Cape Breton University. He is writing in a personal capacity.

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