The Globe and Mail reports in its Saturday edition that the "brain drain" issue has resurfaced. An unbylined item quotes Beata Caranci, chief economist at TD Bank, saying that this was a hot topic in the 1990s, when the rising U.S. tech sector set its sights on Canadian talent. The pattern revealed an increasing tilt toward highly skilled workers who were young, well educated and well paid. Today, Canada faces one of the weakest productivity performances among advanced countries, and that cannot be chalked up to a single, easy-to-cure factor. The regulatory business environment has become more complex against a higher tax base among households relative to stateside. Ms. Caranci says it bears close monitoring if income opportunities create even more pull to the U.S. in the years to come. On the other side, people leaving the U.S. to enter Canada has downshifted. To get the most out of Canada's immigration policy recalibration, there needs to be a pivot to a higher share of skilled workers, and greater efforts on retention to curb talent leaving for the U.S. Maybe this is an unattainable goal given the large gap in competitiveness, not to mention the lure of earning U.S. dollars alongside better housing affordability.