The reason engineer salaries in Canada are low, especially for startups, isn't that companies are cheap. It's that there is no funding or support network for growing companies -- nothing compared to the valley.

In my experience seed funding in Canada doesn't mean "this idea looks like it's on a promising growth trajectory, here's 100K for a bit of equity to see what we can make of it". Instead it means "show us $500K in revenue and we'll consider you for a loan next year".

So what you have left are the smaller companies that happily feed their owner and not much else, or enterprise shops delivering established solutions in an established market for established rates (Canadian ones).

And the companies that do well and grow: they just move to the valley, because they generally can, and they have every reason to.

Source: I've lived both worlds.