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Dagostino said Access Now tries to hold RightsCon in cities with a strong tech hub, which is why relocating to Toronto made sense. Thousands of digital rights activists will converge on TO in mid-May.

And then there’s Collision.

In April, Web Summit CEO Paddy Cosgrave published an article on LinkedIn about the company’s Collision Conference, headlined “Justin Trudeau wants us to move Collision to Canada. Should we?”

The conference has been held in New Orleans for the past several years, but Cosgrave said that Trump’s travel ban is one of the factors causing them to relocate.

The event is expected to draw 25,000 people to the city.

“If the statistics are to be believed, Toronto is of the most multicultural and diverse city on the planet. That matters a lot in today’s world,” Cosgrave wrote.

“As an example of the challenging times we live in, we know that quite a number of tech entrepreneurs from around the world were denied entry into the United States to attend Collision 2017. That pattern, despite our best efforts, has continued in 2018.”

Abdullah Snobar, executive director of Ryerson’s Digital Media Zone incubator and a vocal champion for the Toronto tech sector, said the conferences represent an opportunity for local start-ups, and a chance to showcase the city as a destination for tech talent.

But at the same time, Snobar said Canada should sell itself on its own merits, instead of relying on people fleeing the U.S.

“Ultimately, at the end of the day, the Trump administration has made it very clear that people who want to do business in America are going to be more than welcome to do business in America,” he said.

“People aren’t going to come to Toronto because they want to remove themselves away from Trump. They’re coming here because they’re seeing an opportunity with Toronto.”