When Andre Predock walked away with the commission for the Canadian Museum for Human Rights none of us should have been surprised. After all, of Toronto's four big cultural design projects only one, the opera house, went to a Canadian architecture firm. It seems Canadian architects just aren't up to snuff when it comes to high profile commissions. Well, at least to some.

Is this a trend that is going to continue? Are our architects doomed to churning out competent if uninspired condos and 2500 square foot boutique houses? Maybe we'll become internationally in demand for our in-fill lane way housing. We will specialize in converting marginal land into introverted cultural zones. How Canadian. But to answer the question, one would have to say this abandonment of Canadian architects is a phenomenon that will continue in spite of the fact that we have designers who are every bit as capable and talented as their US and European counterparts. What we lack is a regulatory infrastructure that promotes innovation. Let's make the Canadian market more vibrant and internationally competitive by easing up on the controls over Architects entering the profession. That way the market will find its own level which, given the exploding interest in design, should be no different than that in Europe or elsewhere.