Amazon Seeking 2nd Headquarters: Canadian Cities Pitch Interest

[lio45]

Originally Posted by jmt18325

Unless of course they're going to domicile in Canada - far lower corporate taxes.

Amazon makes very little profit anyway - LeftCoaster is right that the ability to attract top talent matters a lot more for that kind of company than corporate tax rates (especially given all the loopholes that exist in the US).

[Corndogger]

Originally Posted by SkahHigh

I mean, it's pretty simple... Very low tech workforce, few universities, limited airport destinations, basic transit system, not a big player on the international front in any way... The "Calgary is the front runner" thing is pure boosterism and it's a bit embarassing.

Not that I'm saying my city will get it, but let's be realistic here.

Who said "Calgary is the front runner"? As for your points, the first one is debatable, the second applies to every city in Canada when compared to a lot of American cities, define "limited" for the third one, our transit system might not be the best but it's better than a lot of places and Toronto's is far from perfect from what I hear, and where does it say being "a big player on the international front" is a factor? If it is a factor that's not good for Toronto. either.

[Corndogger]

Originally Posted by Blader

Pure speculation on my part.
I suspect that Bezos has narrowed his targets and is playing city vs city for the best possible deal. Much like major league sports for stadiums.

That's exactly what he's doing.

[WhipperSnapper]

Originally Posted by Corndogger

Please go ahead and explain. I always find it very entertaining to read the delusional cheerleading of center of the universe Torontonians. I've yet to see one compelling reason listed here why Amazon would want to set up shop for 50K employees in Toronto. At least Calgary has some reasons. You'd probably be more hurt if another Canadian city got this than if an American city did.

That's a mighty chip on your shoulder.

[Corndogger]

Originally Posted by WhipperSnapper

That's a mighty chip on your shoulder.

As usual, you have nothing of substance to say other than same lame insult.

[SkahHigh]

Originally Posted by Corndogger

Who said "Calgary is the front runner"? As for your points, the first one is debatable, the second applies to every city in Canada when compared to a lot of American cities, define "limited" for the third one, our transit system might not be the best but it's better than a lot of places and Toronto's is far from perfect from what I hear, and where does it say being "a big player on the international front" is a factor? If it is a factor that's not good for Toronto. either.

Right here:

Originally Posted by patm

Calgary has to be the front runner out of Canadian cities.

Originally Posted by patm

I think Calgary has the best shot out of Canadian cities (which overall might be a long shot still).

Well, Toronto, Montreal and Vancouver each have more than four universities each.

Limited means few international business connections. YYC is still very domestic.

"It's better than a lot of places" does not mean it's a good transit system.

Being an international player helps because of all the major economic, cultural and social connections. Toronto is an Alpha city on the international front, alongside Sydney, Chicago, Frankfurt, LA...

[WhipperSnapper]

Originally Posted by O-tacular

Rocket Space never considered Calgary until Nenshi and a group of delegates sold them on moving here. Now they're revamping an old office building that was previously occupied by Encana. I think on the face of it Calgary seems like a long shot but I wouldn't count it out by any means if a tech company is looking to move to Canada.

Rocket Space isn't a tech company. They provide co-working space. Centres like Vancouver, Toronto, Montreal, etc are spawned with those.

[WhipperSnapper]

Originally Posted by Corndogger

As usual, you have nothing of substance to say other than same lame insult.

As usual? Suuure.

There's simply no point this time. It's all over this thread. Delusions of grandeur supported by "centre of universe" bashing. How dare Toronto think they are more equipped to house Amazon (as if it will ever happen) over Calgary's entrepreneurial spirit that punches well above it weight class.

[240glt]

^ no kidding

Merely stating that Edmonton has little chance at this brought howls from the peanut gallery to leave town. How thin skinned can you get

[WhipperSnapper]

Originally Posted by Corndogger

I always find it very entertaining to read the delusional cheerleading of center of the universe Torontonians.

Originally Posted by Corndogger

I've yet to see one compelling reason listed here why Amazon would want to set up shop for 50K employees in Toronto.

Originally Posted by Corndogger

At least Calgary has some reasons.

Satisfied?

[technomad]

Originally Posted by patm

I made this same argument on another forum and was corrected. Amazons web services is far larger than their selling merchandise business profit and growth wise.

Interesting, but not too surprising.. Much like Microsoft's moneymaker is XBOX and not the ubiquitous Windows OS. Of course AWS itself largely sprang up as a side venture from their in-house work on making sure their own website could scale up appropriately for large sales bursts like black friday and Christmas.

I'm guessing that the retail side still has far more sales than AWS does though, and they could be intentionally running the retail side at a loss. The media arm could well be a deliberate profit eating venture too..

I'd still consider them more of a retail and logistics company overall than tech, what with them moving into container shipping and the drone delivery R&D cutting out the middle man.

[technomad]

Originally Posted by WhipperSnapper

How dare Toronto think they are more equipped to house Amazon (as if it will ever happen) over Calgary's entrepreneurial spirit that punches well above it weight class.

Don't recall any 'entrepreneurial spirit' comments in this thread.. Nor do I recall any salient counterpoints to the high tax, obscene housing cost and lousy commute disadvantages TO has.

Of course I'm projecting a bit here, I'd love to get one of those 50k jobs without having to make a huge move

[WhipperSnapper]

Well, Impartiality isn't what let him to say he can't find one compelling reason for Amazon to chose Toronto but several for Calgary. Of course, I don't expect you to understand with your reference to high taxes (damn that sales tax), obscene housing costs (reasonable) and, lousy commute disadvantages TO has. (which I guess is based on kilometres of rail per capita)

[Mister F]

I clicked on this thread expecting the usual regional bickering. I wasn't disappointed.

If this new head office is going to have 50,000 employees and 8 million square feet, that would be a massive influx and a big logistical challenge even for the biggest cities in Canada. The TD Centre is the largest office complex in the country and it's less than half that size. This will be a huge deal for the city that gets chosen. Well, maybe New York could absorb it without much fuss.

Originally Posted by osmo

The more you dig into it it becomes clear this thing is cooked for a certain few cities with Toronto being the front runner with all the empty space in East Harbour they can use (which will be connected by Subway, GO, Streetcar - shoulders the DVP highway).

To be fair, the East Harbour area isn't on the subway at all. Transit access will improve dramatically when the DRL and RER are complete, including a huge interchange station at the Unilever site. An Amazon headquarters in that area would give those projects new urgency.

[technomad]

Originally Posted by WhipperSnapper

Well, Impartiality isn't what let him to say he can't find one compelling reason for Amazon to chose Toronto but several for Calgary. Of course, I don't expect you to understand with your reference to high taxes (damn that sales tax), obscene housing costs (reasonable) and, lousy commute disadvantages TO has. (which I guess is based on kilometres of rail per capita)

Well, damn all tax period, but that's a whole other conv..

nearly triple the sales tax of AB is not insignificant, and not sure who considers an avg house cost of 1m+ to be 'reasonable'? as far as commute, I prefer to measure it in time myself, but whatever floats your boat..

[WhipperSnapper]

Don't for one second think this regional bickering. This is simply calling people out on their bullshit.

[technomad]

fair enough, and we both seem to be playing that game

enjoy your weekend, I'm out

[Pinion]

Originally Posted by technomad

Interesting, but not too surprising.. Much like Microsoft's moneymaker is XBOX and not the ubiquitous Windows OS.

This is wrong. XBOX is on the verge of being sold if anything, they really screwed up with their last console and got trounced by Sony.



https://www.onmsft.com/news/microsof...n-product-line

[mistercorporate]

Originally Posted by Treplow

I agree the Unilever/East Harbour site seems pretty much tailor made for a project like this.

Is Toronto really that "world class" when it comes to education though? U of T is definitely up there in the world university rankings, but neither York nor Ryerson come close.

Canada is the most educated country in the world and Toronto is insanely hyper-educated for a large city. There's more than enough extra tech and business talent floating around to soak up 3 or 4 Amazon GHQ's.

[kwoldtimer]

A columnist at Bloomberg suggested yesterday that the most likely options were Toronto, Boston, Washington, Atlanta, Dallas or Denver. Whether not being in USA helped or hindered Toronto was a question asked, but not answered, although a sub-header wonders if five of the six cities could be "eliminated by politics".

https://www.bloomberg.com/view/artic...w-headquarters

Part of me wonders whether this whole exercise isn't some sort of political "shot across the bow" of the Trump administration.