$10 Million not enough to live in Edmonton

[The Goon]

I found this story funny, although I'd bet that same scientist wouldn't live here, either.

http://ca.news.yahoo.com/blogs/daily...190140011.html

[Bigtime]

I read about this a few days ago, with an article that decided to tell much more of the story than just "the weather in Edmonton sucks".

He was made promises by the UofA that his wife and employees would be getting fast-tracked by Immigration Canada, it didn't happen. It was delay after delay, and since he couldn't bring his people in he commented on how a city like Edmonton has a hard time attracting the type of talent he needs.

So yes the climate played a role, but so did the university's failing to deliver what they promised him.

[Bigtime]

Here's the Edmonton Journal article:

http://www.edmontonjournal.com/healt...318/story.html

He had been “quite excited about the potential adventure” when the U of A came calling. Negotiators offered not only $10 million, but assurances that his family would be accommodated, and some of his research staff could be “fast-tracked” through immigration and join his lab in Canada.

Reality was a little different, he said.

Citizenship and Immigration Canada took months to process his staff’s immigration requests.

But he said the deal-breaker was the way the U of A treated his wife, who had initially planned to move to Edmonton, leaving their children, aged 16 to 22, and aging parents behind.

His wife works in administration at Oxford, and Rorsman said she was offered a good position in Edmonton. But she was told she could only have two weeks vacation a year. She asked for 11 more days without pay.

“Unfortunately, the university was not very flexible on that score,” he said.

As her negotiations dragged on, Rorsman headed to Edmonton in February 2011. In the end, his wife decided not to move.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Rorsman said he tried to negotiate a new deal so he could rejoin his wife in England. He said he offered to give up his “inflated” salary at the U of A if he could spend three-quarters of his time in Oxford and run the Canadian effort from afar, making periodic visits.

“As principal investigator, you don’t run the science yourself,” he said, noting he could have stayed in close touch by email and Skype. “Lots of people do that all the time.”

Rorsman said the university said no and he resigned. “I sincerely hoped it would work out, but unfortunately it didn’t.”

[Table 5]

Definitely looks like the University over-promised and under-delivered, but I can see why it would be hard to bring people to Edmonton. At the end of the day, to the international community, the city is just a blip in the middle of nowhere.....it would be about as sexy as asking someone here to move to Cleveland or Kiev. There's a good reason they have to overpay.

Calgary would probably have a very similar problem (plus, our University is not even as well regarded). For someone without a local connection, Alberta isn't a part of the world that is appealing to outsiders. It's cold, its cities are small, and it's far from everything. If I was a rock star in my field, could work anywhere, and get paid handsomely for it, I'd hesitate to move my family halfway across the world too.

[Bigtime]

I think if the University had given his wife that extra time off, and immigration had fast-tracked his people he would still be there today. It sounds like they weren't willing to negotiate with the "superstar" at all. Almost like they were thinking they were the s*#t and not the guy they were wooing.

[killer_carlson]

Part of the problem it seems was making representations about decisions by third parties you have no control over.

This is tough news though, but the Edmonton diabetes research facility is literally world class in diabetes treatment.