[Ati Petrov], 40, is bright, driven and educated. Her experience is illustrative of Canada's brain-drain, brain-gain debate.

Between 22,000 and 35,000 Canadians moved annually to the United States during the 1990s, including about 10,000 university graduates, said Statistics Canada. Meanwhile, some 39,000 degree- holders entered Canada each year, including 11,000 with a master's or post-doctoral degree.

The trick, say workers in the immigration field, is not staunching the brain drain but rather properly employing the brain gain.