Point of clarification, about the money, the salaries, of course the advantage is that foreign engineers would be willing to work for Canadian dollars which Canadian firms can afford to pay.

Canadian firms can't compete with American dollars anymore than the Leafs, Oilers or Canadiens can. Professional hockey teams pay in USD. There is an element of offering less money, or less valuable money in the international sense, but it's still pretty good money if you try to spend it in Canada.

Canadian firms don't seem to be wanting to take advantage of people, but nobody can fault them for taking advantage of the situation, particularly if we all benefit from a positive outcome.

All this criticism about exploiting IT engineers as if they were TFWs slinging patties at a burger joint is completely missing the point and throwing up a school of red herrings.