Ontario thinks BusinessWeek Readers are Brain Dead

A full page advertisement in the February 4th issue of BusinessWeek:

 

One natural resource in Ontario is mined more than any other (picture of brain).

 

Innovative industries have been unearthing talent in Ontario for decades, and have polished it into the most highly skilled workforce of the G8. It's also the most knowledgeable, with 58% having a post-secondary education - the highest rate of any industrialized nation. In fact, the 2006 World Competitiveness Yearbook ranks our education system ahead of Japan and the U.S. in its ability to meet the needs of a competitive economy. And competitive we are in fields as diverse as IT and communications, aerospace and biotechnology. Brainpower is a renewable resource too, as Ontario's 44 universities and colleges produce a steady supply of graduates every year in mathematics, engineering and sciences. Put Ontario's minds to work for you. There's no better place in the world to do business. 2ontario.com/talent 1-800-819-8701

 

"The most highly skilled workforce of the G8". This statement is insulting and blatantly false. If Ontario was a country, it wouldn't be part of the G8. There are many political entities within the G8 that have a higher skilled workforce (the cites of Silicon Valley, for example). A fairer comparison would be to compare Ontario to the states and provinces of the member countries. But even then, that would be relatively irrelevant as most G8 countries are not federations.

 

58% of the workforce has a post-secondary education, the "highest rate of any industrialised nation". When did Ontario become an industrialised nation? The people of the District of Columbia are more educated that Ontarians. Dito for Massachusetts, Colorado and Connecticut, among many, many others.

 

"2006 World Competitiveness Yearbook ranks our education system ahead of Japan and the U.S. in its ability to meet the needs of a competitive economy." Well, I was educated in Quebec so I don't know about Japan's education system, however, I do know that American education is quite local with the federal government having little or nothing to do with it. How about comparing Ontario to American states, or to other Canadian provinces, such as neighbor Quebec. But worse, as far as I can tell, Ontario isn't even mentioned the 2006 World Competitiveness Yearbook. They just made that fact up!