The Brits they sent were having difficulty qualifying
I won't deny that statement...but the question still remained..Why?
Cossack and myself can both vouch that most, if not all of the Brits checked out in Toronto. Given that YYZ is the busiest centre/tower (and I am just stating that as a statistical fact)...it should have been the case that there would have been more difficulty qualifying here than at other centres.
It has been alluded to that other ACCs did not like the program as much as Toronto did...and shall we say..did not make it as "easy" for an experienced controller to qualify. When you have "difficulty" with training..usually you get given help to make it easier. If the stories I have heard are true.....the help elsewhere wasn't quite as much as it was at YYZ.
Outsiders are looked upon as stealing jobs that rightfully belong to Canadian citizens.
Never understood that logic....basically means no-one should be allowed to work abroad...anywhere for anyone at anytime.....as you could always be viewed as stealing someones job.
At the time of the experienced controller program the general rumour was they were having trouble getting Canadians "checked out"...so to fill in the gaps they recruited from abroad with guys/gals who had already done the spadework of training elsewhere.
I didn't consider myself to be "stealing" anyones job as I still had to have the gumption to move myself 3000 miles, get through the training over here , qualify in different airspace using different procedures and adapting to a different lifestyle. If I couldn't do it thenI wouldn't have checked out....regardless of my nationality. I'd only be stealing if I was given my licence without being able to control airplanes safely into YYZ(although some might argue I can't anyway)
In the last 5 years, particularly in Toronto...they have had more success with recruitment programs and training Canadians...so they had no further need to recruit from abroad.