Both countries, Canada and the US were build on immigrants. By nature, immigrants are risk takers and driven to succeed when they move to another country. I do not know any immigrant who come to Canada in a hope to spend the rest of his/her life on social assistance. Newcomers are looking for opportunities to make their lives better and that is why they immigrate. Some immigrants become entrepreneurs in their new home countries just because they can’t find jobs that meet their qualifications. Others make a conscious choice to build their own businesses. According to Inc.:

“Allowing skilled immigrant entrepreneurs to more easily enter America, where they can create good jobs and pay taxes, is the closest thing to an economic free lunch that we are likely to get. In the words of New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg, we are committing “economic suicide” by making it hard for skilled immigrants to stay in the U.S. and contribute to our economy.

After all, can you imagine an American economy without a Google or a Sun Microsystems or without a SpaceX? What if there had never been a Carnegie Steel, a Bell Telephone (later AT&T), or a Pfizer? All of these companies were founded by immigrants, and all have left a distinct mark on entrepreneurship and the American economy. Immigrants have been key to the success of entrepreneurship (and to Silicon Valley, in particular), to job creation, and to innovation in the U.S.” Full article

Source: Inc. website, Alex Salkever and Vivek Wadhwa, Oct 15, 2012. Why Entrepreneurship Needs Immigrants