Looking for opportunities as America closes its doors

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 14/02/2025 (257 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Romance takes planning — for certain, there are tens of thousands of Canadian men thinking about that exactly today, as they scour the marketplace for last-chance bouquets of flowers and heart-shaped boxes of whatever semblance of chocolate remains on store shelves.

But we’re not really talking about Valentine’s Day.

We’re talking about a different aspect of romance.

We’re talking about what some to the south might be seeing as a time for separation, and moving on to new things.

Anyone who knows scientists knows they are a uniquely driven group of people. They latch onto causes and ideas and stick to them like glue, sometimes surrendering whole other parts of their lives — friendships, sometimes relationships, certainly huge parts of their personal lives and often, opportunities for financial success. Not every scientist, of course — they are, after all, like people everywhere, sharing a range of intensities of desires and needs.

But their research is critically important to them, and right now, the government of U.S. President Donald Trump is a threat to that work.

Research projects in everything from cancer research to cardiac science, to climate and weather studies, have been upended by the Trump administration’s haphazard approach to seizing control of all the levers of government. Organizations such as the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention have been stopped from sharing information on burgeoning illnesses in parts of the U.S., and some scientists have complained that, as they go as far as to use their own credit cards to finance things such as protecting research samples from degradation, they are running out of the wherewithal to keep decades-old research from collapsing.

Just like we’re finding that the U.S. government is not a good friend and trading partner after all, U.S. scientists are finding that their skills and work aren’t only not valued, but are actively being devalued.

And that means, not to be completely crass about it, a lot of really good scientists may be back in the research dating pool. Maybe we should have a few bouquets ready, just in case.

As a country, we should be poised and ready to take in skilled Americans looking to find a home in a North American democracy that isn’t devolving into autocracy.

We should also be considering targeting U.S. firms whose business is primarily global in nature — if the world descends more completely into a made-in-America trade war, some of those firms may be looking to find a home in a stable North American democracy where words and treaties still mean something.

It might take a little romance — and significant investment — but the opportunities are vast, not only in science but in the industry and commerce that always follows intensive science.

After all, the U.S. has 340 million people, most of them potential customers. But Europe has more than 742 million, Canada has 40 million, Mexico has more than 128 million, Australia and New Zealand have 32 million, South America has 442 million — and India has 1.4 billion, just to name a few well-established markets.

Certainly, we shouldn’t ignore our own: we should look at ways to build incentives for established Canadian businesses to take over industries and products that come from our once-reliable neighbour.

Continuing to build this nation by backing proven research, science, technology and industry can win out over the short-sighted, inward-looking small world of Donald J. Trump.

Yes, tariffs are threats. Some believe, in fact, that they may be existential threats for this nation.

They may also be critical opportunities for the future.

The time to plan for that was certainly years ago. But it is also now, as some smart, experienced and resourceful Americans take a cold, hard look at what their nation is becoming.