Last month, the head of a Toronto-based tech firm received so many applications for a software engineering position from U.S.-based job seekers that he thought they were fake, given only about 1% of the company's past applications had come from the States.
The applicants he interviewed, many of whom were living in Silicon Valley, praised Toronto's tech scene and expressed doubts about how they'd fare under the mercurial immigration policies of U.S. President Donald Trump. He noted that many of were either visible minorities or recent immigrants and not yet citizens, and not comfortable in living in the States under President Donald Trump
Other GTA tech companies have noticed the same thing, reporting a rise in the number of U.S. and internationally based tech workers wanting to be part of Toronto's burgeoning scene.
Shopify, a Canadian e-commerce company with an office in Toronto, reports it had 40% more U.S. applicants in the first quarter of 2017 than it averaged in all of 2016.
Tech leaders say the uptick is part of a larger picture: Toronto is becoming a hotbed for the technology sector.
The last few months have seen a series of coups for Toronto's scene, including the announcement of a new artificial intelligence research hub, the Vector Institute and the news that Uber will be opening up a research hub for self-driving cars.
Google has also taken note of the city's potential, putting in a bid to help develop a piece of the eastern waterfront "from the internet up."
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau also spent part of this month promoting Canadian tech, reflecting the intention signaled in the 2017 budget, which promised funding to support and develop the tech sector.
