Cities across Canada are bullish on hosting Amazon’s second headquarters

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Amazon announced that it is looking for a second place to call home, and Canadians across the country are making noise for their community.

The new headquarters, dubbed Amazon HQ2, is set to be equal to Amazon’s headquarters in Seattle in terms of size, and is expected to create 50,000 jobs. Amazon wants to invest more than $5 billion USD in construction and operation into the upcoming Amazon HQ2.

“We expect HQ2 to be a full equal to our Seattle headquarters,” said Jeff Bezos, Amazon’s founder and CEO, in a statement. “Amazon HQ2 will bring billions of dollars in up-front and ongoing investments, and tens of thousands of high-paying jobs. We’re excited to find a second home.”

Toronto Mayor John Tory was quick to share his thoughts on making Toronto Amazon’s second home:

Tory said in a statement to CBC News that he believes Toronto is a prime spot for Amazon HQ2: “I firmly believe that Toronto is a prime candidate to host Amazon’s second headquarters in North America.”

City staff will be working with Toronto Global so that Toronto can put together an attractive bid for Amazon, according to Tory.

Vancouver mayor Gregor Robertson said the city “without a doubt” is Amazon’s top contender, and plans to work with the Vancouver Economic Commission to put forward a bid. “In the heart of the Cascadia Tech Corridor and close to their American HQ, Vancouver’s world-class tech ecosystem is chock-full of top talent, a prime gateway for international business, a green economy hub, and consistently rated as a top liveable city thanks in large part to our outstanding transportation system,” he said.

Ian McKay, CEO of the Vancouver Economic Commission, confirmed the organization is reviewing the Amazon HQ2 RFP with the intention of putting forth a proposal in partnership with the city of Vancouver and other stakeholders.

“Our city’s business climate, talent, livability, infrastructure, connectivity and diversity render it an exceptional candidate for the new Amazon headquarters location,” said McKay. “We are confident that Vancouver’s other well-known attributes – a dense and connected downtown tech cluster, competitive cost of doing business, leadership in green business & sustainable planning, and Canada’s strongest startup ecosystem, to name a few – will position us as a frontrunner among other cities.”

Amazon is reportedly looking for metropolitan areas with more than one million people, stable and business-friendly environments, an urban or suburban location that can possibly bring and keep “strong technical talent,” and lastly, a community that thinks big and creatively when it comes to locations and real estate options.

Invest Ottawa’s Ryan Gibson advocated for Ottawa in a tweet:

Cities that are interested in becoming the home of Amazon HQ2 will have to submit their pitch in a dedicated website by October 19th.

This article was originally published on MobileSyrup

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Dean Daley

Dean Daley is a staff writer at MobileSyrup.

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