I'm not a myth: Nobel winner

Alberta-born physicist adds voice to indignation at Chretien's remarks

John Major, The Ottawa Citizen / Bombardier Inc. chairman Laurent Beaudoin received an honorary degree in engineering yesterday at Carleton University. Mr. Beaudoin shared the stage with Canadian-born Nobel prize-winning physicist Richard Taylor.

Physicist Richard Taylor says he is one of eight Canadian to have won a Nobel Prize and that seven of those Canadians did so outside of their home country.

A Nobel prize-winning scientist bluntly disagreed yesterday with Prime Minister Jean Chretien's claim that there is no brain drain of Canadian talent to the U.S.

In a speech to Carleton University graduates, Alberta-born physicist Richard Taylor, who spent most of his career at California's Stanford University, said: "I did not plan to talk about the brain drain today, but on Tuesday the prime minister said I was a myth, so I'd like to give you just one statistic:

"Of eight Canadian babies who were born around the same time I was and who went on to win Nobel prizes, seven of them did their prize-winning work in the U.S.

"So the myths are ahead 7-1, although there may be another period or two to play."

The prime minister had said that the brain drain is myth propagated by business interests trying to win personal tax cuts. Referring to a recent Bank of Montreal study, he said that Canada is losing fewer people (on a per-capita) basis now than it has in the past. Canada also attracts significantly more high-tech talent from around the world than it loses to the U.S.

But other immigration statistics show that temporary work permits to the U.S. are rapidly rising and many of these people never return to Canada.

High-technology companies are lobbying for tax breaks on stock options to try to keep top development expertise in Canada.

Dr. Taylor, 69, received an honorary doctorate yesterday for research in physics. He won the Nobel Prize in 1990 along with two American scientists for ground-breaking research at a Stanford accelerator that proved that the tiny quark is the building block of matter.

However, Dr. Taylor agreed with Mr. Chretien that reducing taxes in Canada compared with the U.S. isn't going to solve the brain drain issue.

He has lobbied the Canadian government to put more money into scientific research and to give top scientific talent the facilities and research funds to do their work in Canada.

He told a Canadian scientific conference in 1991 that "there's more Canadian content in the U.S. scientific establishment than on the television in my (Canadian) hotel room."

And he said Canadian talent at Harvard, Cornell, Stanford and Berkely would make "an enormously wonderful university."

Dr. Taylor told the graduating class that Canada "is extraordinarily rich in resources, both natural and human. It is not crowded and its citizens enjoy a great deal of personal freedom."

He urged the graduates to preserve Canada's good fortune for future generations. "Keep in mind that improving the the lot of those in less-fortunate countries is a moral duty and may be the only path to long-term stability and peace."

He said that the major issue facing Canada is the export of water.

"In my view, water will be the ultimate limitation of the development of each and every country. A 'water drain' would be far more destructive of Canada's future than the so-called brain drain, and even harder to reverse as the years go by."

Laurent Beaudoin, chairman of Bombardier Inc., urged Carleton graduates to fight for their ideals.

He said that when the big transportation company bought Canadair in 1986, experts told the new owners there was no market for regional jets capable of carrying only 50 passengers. But Bombardier invested $250 million -- half the market value of the company's stock -- to stretch the Challenger business jet to become a regional jet.

So far, Bombardier has sold 550 regional jets and expects to sell more than 1,000 eventually.

"Not bad for an aircraft that had no market," said Mr. Beaudoin, who received an honorary doctorate from Carleton.