Vancouver is vying to become the next home of an online retailer that says it will bring thousands of high-paying jobs to the city it chooses.
In a written tweet, Mayor Gregor Robertson says Vancouver’s world-class tech ecosystem is chock-full of top talent and is consistently rated as a top livable city, among other things.
The Vancouver Economic Commission is reviewing Amazon’s request for proposals and says it’s confident that Vancouver will be a front-runner for the project.
Sean Elbe, technology sector development manager for the city, thinks that even if you won’t be working there, the bid deserves your support.
“The average person really should consider the opportunity to attract some of the high paying high-quality jobs that present the opportunities to bring and foster the best talent in the world.”
The web retailer says it plans to invest more than $5-billion in construction for the headquarters, as well as posting 50,000 jobs.
“There’s a lot of fear mongering out there around about what this will mean, 50,000 workers won’t show up at once, we’re talking about small additions of incremental job opportunities over the next 15 to 20 years,” said Elbe.
Ontario and Manitoba have also thrown their hats in the ring in an attempt to lure the Seattle-based online company to Toronto and Winnipeg.