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Amazon Second HQ

Despite these lofty endorsements (which are positive to Toronto's public perception overall), I would still caution against getting your hopes up towards Amazon's city of choice.

They're still making the choice in the end, and no one knows what other criteria Bezos is looking at.
 
No indication of the HQ, but certainly lots of lobbying ( to get some things deregulated)


AMAZON MET WITH CANADIAN FEDERAL GOVERNMENT 99 TIMES IN THE PAST 12 MONTHS
According to a report by Radio-Canada — which MobileSyrup was able to verify thanks to the Office of the Commissioner of Lobbying of Canada (OLC) website — Amazon met 99 times with Canada’s Liberal government.

Google met with the government 37 times, Microsoft met 35 times, while Netflix — which recently pledged $500 million CAD to bolster Canadian content — met with government officials 8 times.

According to the OLC website, government institutions and agencies ranging from Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada to Canada Border Services Agency to National Defence and the Canadian Armed Forces were lobbied in the process.

https://betakit.com/amazon-met-with-canadian-federal-government-99-times-in-the-past-12-months/

The Canadian government hasn't hidden the fact that it would like the American e-commerce giant Amazon to set up its second head office in Canada.

Trudeau even sent a letter to Jeff Bezos, the company's CEO. During an armchair discussion last week on artificial intelligence, Trudeau mentioned he was reading The Four: The Hidden DNA of Amazon, Apple, Facebook, and Google.

Amazon has said it's "seeking to influence policy direction related to cloud based services."
http://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/amazon-google-lobby-trudeau-1.4379761
 
Meanwhile, Amazon, Apple, Facebook, and a few other tech companies such as Microsoft, eBay, Twitter, Uber, and Yahoo! are named in the Paradise Papers for tax evasion.

It's one of the secret strategies for tech companies to get rich: put most of your assets in a country with low corporate taxes.

That loophole must be closed.
 
Meanwhile, Amazon, Apple, Facebook, and a few other tech companies such as Microsoft, eBay, Twitter, Uber, and Yahoo! are named in the Paradise Papers for tax evasion.

It's one of the secret strategies for tech companies to get rich: put most of your assets in a country with low corporate taxes.

That loophole must be closed.

Just so I understand, you're saying the US government should change the rules to prevent Amazon from building a second HQ in Toronto (or anywhere in Canada)?
 
Canada's corporate taxes may be lower than the United States, but it's not a tax haven.

Moving their corporate base to Canada means those pieces are subject to Canadian law, not US law. US Law can't close a tax-haven loophole for companies based in Canada. You can switch out Canada for any other country that is not the USA.

The main benefit from choosing Toronto rather than another US city is that it puts substantial Amazon operations outside of US law.
 
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I think the political situation in the US is fairly uncertain at the moment, with the revelations concerning the DNC and ongoing problems in the Republicans- the greater story than Trump is that the establishment is teetering.

Amazon is Bezos, and Bezos's close links to the Democrats and the Washington Post may be reason enough to place a secondary HQ outside the US borders (and US law).
 
So this may or may not having anything to do w/ a new HQ2 for Amazon.......ya never know.

But I have it from a well placed source, than an Amazon announcement in relation to Toronto, that involves both a lease and hiring is in the near-term offing.

My off-hand thought is that this is not HQ related, in so far as I'm under the impression that will come before New Years, but my source didn't have a date.

I typically don't offer stuff like this, but I've had 2 different sources, who I trust, verify this privately and one public affirmation of sorts.

In reference to hiring announcement in Vancouver, Leftcoaster over at SSP said: "

Ya they're going full in. There are already 249 jobs posted on Amazon's website and that's just the tip of the iceberg. They'll be by far the largest employer downtown Vancouver in 5 years.

Oh and expect a similar announcement for Toronto some time soon."
 
So this may or may not having anything to do w/ a new HQ2 for Amazon.......ya never know.

But I have it from a well placed source, than an Amazon announcement in relation to Toronto, that involves both a lease and hiring is in the near-term offing.

My off-hand thought is that this is not HQ related, in so far as I'm under the impression that will come before New Years, but my source didn't have a date.

I typically don't offer stuff like this, but I've had 2 different sources, who I trust, verify this privately and one public affirmation of sorts.

In reference to hiring announcement in Vancouver, Leftcoaster over at SSP said: "

Ya they're going full in. There are already 249 jobs posted on Amazon's website and that's just the tip of the iceberg. They'll be by far the largest employer downtown Vancouver in 5 years.

Oh and expect a similar announcement for Toronto some time soon."
There is a ton of logic for Amazon to put some office jobs in the GTA - especially if Boston gets the HQ. It's a cheap hedge for geopolitical risk, source of affordable talent and we can be a visa haven for Boston like Vancouver is for Seattle.
 
From http://www.blogto.com/city/2017/11/toronto-now-considered-longshot-new-amazon-headquarters/

....
Toronto placed 12th under the same ranking system, which was recently compiled by Sperling's Best Places using a comprehensive collection of data from industry predictions about Amazon's new headquarters.

Sperling's report on the ranking, released today, places Atlanta, Georgia square at the top of the list, followed by Boston and Chicago.

"Our thing is about location and place and how it matters, and it seems to matter more and more these days," said Bert Sperling to the Detroit Free Press abut his firm's ranking. "This is our meta-analysis, taking stock of everything that's out there."

Based on this report (and others like it from The New York Times, CNN, Reis and Moody's), it's unlikely that Toronto will be chosen as the home of HQ2.

"Trust us," reads the Sperling report. "It's going to be Atlanta."
....
 
It is entirely possible that even if Amazon doesn't choose to locate HQ2 in Toronto, that they may end up greatly expanding their offices here anyway.
 

Would have been nice if blogTO provided some of the highlights from that report, but that would probably be too much substance for their journalists standards.

Anyway, Toronto has been ranked all over the place in these various lists. Depending who you ask, we are anywhere from number one to near the bottom of the list. At his point we will simply have to wait and see what happens.
 

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