Quote:
Originally Posted by LakeLocker
The Carribbean viewpoint is they desperately need investment. Otherwise the many millions of their folk already on the continental mainland will continue to flood to miami, new york, toronto, montreal.
We have every interest in keeping our wealth within the reach of our fellow Canadians.
The idea of privilege is simple. The rich already goto the Caribbean, the idea would be something along the lines of making it possible for middle class Canadians to do the same, without loosing the tax base.
Canada and Norjway are the only two major countries that don't already have a system for going to a snow free place in winter.
Our current system is to pump money into Florida hoping that many of these people don't decide to stay up there.
We're one presidents: tax, immigration, and healtcare reform away from yet another great southern brain drain.
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Sure, working from home improves things, but people generally don't uproot their families just for a few months of warm weather.
For a certain clique of people - the privileged who can work from home, have no kids and can afford to commute thousands of kilometres to actually participate in face-to-face meetings, sure, they might take advantage of it. The bigger brain drain is people who relocate permanently, but that's more a career thing in my experience.
Otherwise, the "brain drain" is mostly retirees, because they can do that.
I don't think the appeal of Florida or Arizona is necessarily just the warmth either. It's the ability to be a couple of hours away from relatively safe major metropolitan areas with amenities.
Sitting intoxicated on a beach is fun for a week, but it's rarer to see someone sit on one of these islands for months at a time, because what does one do otherwise?
I'm not sure what the net outflow is in tourism/residence dollars, but to make a country into something Canadians would consider 'acceptable' to burn a fair portion of the year at would be hugely expensive.