REFILE-Canada tech execs say weak C$ toughens talent hunt

(Fixes typo in headline to say from says, no changes to text)
By Alastair Sharp
TORONTO, Jan 28 (Reuters) - A slump in the Canadian dollar,
which hit a 12-year low this month, has made it harder for the
country's technology companies to recruit top talent, posing a
longer-term risk to the sector's development, industry veterans
said.
The dollar's slide means Canadian start-ups also face
tougher competition for staff from the local divisions of
deep-pocketed U.S. players such as Google, which have set up in
technology hubs like the Kitchener-Waterloo region of Ontario.
"The biggest thing that all of these (Canadian) companies
face is a war for talent," said John Ruffolo, whose OMERS
Ventures backs a string of Canadian growth companies.
The pain of the currency's deterioration has been acute for
Joel Leetzow, who left a high-paying tech job in the United
States to become chief executive of Cortex Business Solutions
CBX.V in Calgary.
To be sure, the currency's weakness does help Canadian
companies with U.S. sales, who win an immediate boost to
revenue.
But Leetzow noted Cortex, which derives about 40 percent of
revenue from the United States, loses some of that advantage as
it hires U.S. workers to try to boost sales there.
"I felt it personally," said Leetzow. "It sucks."
Canadian startup executives and their backers fear local
hiring could be further hurt by the recently elected Liberal
government's pledge to increase taxes on stock options.
Acknowledging the issue, the government has promised to
allow employees to claim up to C$100,000 in gains a year.

"You're fighting for skills all the time and you need as
many arrows in your quiver as possible," said Ron Shuttleworth,
a capital markets adviser to Canadian technology companies.
Canada's start-up sector has been growing despite broader
economic weakness. It secured C$2.6 billion ($1.85 billion) in
venture funding in 2015, an 11 percent jump over 2014 and the
most since 2002, according to Thomson Reuters data.
International technology giants are also hiring.
Cisco Systems Inc CSCO.O opened a Toronto innovation
center this month. Days later, Alphabet Inc GOOGL.O fired a
confetti cannon at Prime Minister Justin Trudeau to mark the
migration of Google Canada's engineering hub in Kitchener to a
space three times bigger than their old one.
"Big companies like Google doubling down on Waterloo will
definitely drive wages up," said Ted Livingston, founder and CEO
of Kik Interactive, one of hundreds of tech companies that have
sprouted up near the University of Waterloo, a well-known source
of technical talent.
($1 = 1.4046 Canadian dollars)