London City Hall is getting behind an effort to bring Amazon to the Forest City.
City politicians at the strategic priorities and policy committee Monday night voted 11-1 in favour of “investigating” a possible bid.
Talk of a possible London bid has been somewhat controversial, with the community split between what some view as an unrealistic chance and others wanting to compete regardless.
Mayor Matt Brown revealed he’s been talking with Ed Clark, the man heading up the bid for Ontario. He says all levels of government are interested.
“There’s a lot of activity happening across Ontario. There’s a lot of activity happening federally as well. In the initial stages I think both the provincial government and the federal government are trying to decide how aggressive they want to be in something like this,” said Brown.
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He adds it’s important for London to be part of the bid process.
“It’s our responsibility, I think, as a community within southwestern Ontario, within Ontario, to take a Team Ontario approach. Fifty thousand jobs of this calibre, whether they are in Kitchener/Waterloo, whether they are in Toronto, whether they are in London or somewhere else, would have a significant impact on our entire community.”
Amazon announced plans earlier this month to build a second headquarters and invited cities from across North America to bid.
The company wants a city of more than a million people with an international airport, good education and mass transit.
London, and every other city on the continent have until Oct. 19 to submit a proposal.