Federal Minister for Artificial Intelligence urges students to stay in Canada

How could the development of A.I impact Waterloo Region’s workforce? CTV’s Karis Mapp reports.

Canada’s Artificial Intelligence Minister urged students to keep their talents in Canada and help the country thrive.

Minister Evan Solomon made a stop at the University of Waterloo in Waterloo, Ont. on Wednesday. He spoke to students with one thought top of mind: “I’m asking you to say yes to this country.”

Solomon’s statement comes as some students are facing the lure of a career south of the border.

“Of course, the [United States of America] is a hotspot for AI,” Jochen Koenemann, University of Waterloo’s dean of mathematics said. “So many of our students end up there. But we have a large community and a growing community in Canada as well.”

A new report from LinkedIn shows AI has become a major component of the labour market. The company’s Jobs on the Rise Report ranks the 15-fastest growing jobs in Canada over the past three years. AI engineers, AI consultants and strategists, and AI/machine learning researchers were all featured in the top five.

However, it is not a problem that is unique to the growing AI field.

“What I’m seeing is a worrying pattern where all of my handful of friends who are raising Series A or pre-seed or are just going down the road of entrepreneurship are all leaving to the States,” Chloe Nguyen, second year engineering student, said

“It’s a problem near and dear to my heart. I want Canada to thrive,” Nguyen said.

Solomon hoped to convince more homegrown talent to stay within Canada’s borders.

“We don’t want to be the farm team for the rest of the world,” he said.

Still, there are many reasons graduates may look at the U.S. for employment opportunities.

“I did work two U.S. co-ops,” Lukas Wormald, a University of Waterloo graduate, said. “I did notice a big disparity in terms of pay and what I was able to get for offers, the ability to take less student loans int the following term. It was something I was looking at, but I also wanted to be a significant part of something.”

But some said Canada has something money can’t buy.

“There’s so many incentives to go elsewhere in the space, but it’s just more so reinforcing that sense of belonging in Canada and making people believe that they have something to contribute to,” Francis Okezie, a fourth year communications student, said.