GTA bid for second Amazon HQ underway

Mayors in the Greater Toronto Area have mobilized to formalize their bid to woo internet giant Amazon to consider Toronto as its next North American headquarters. Mayors of Toronto, Mississauga and Brampton are joined by the chief executives of the regions of Durham, Halton and York to prepare to submit a proposal to Amazon. Mark Cohon, chair of Toronto Global, and Janet Ecker, vice-chair of Toronto Global are tasked to lead the GTA’s bid team. Toronto Global is a not-for-profit organization that markets the entire region to international investors. Municipalities say that with Amazon already occupying two-million square feet of operational footprint across the GTA, the region will make for a good second base of operations.  But the GTA is in for some tough competition as other cities across the US have also expressed interest. Other cities or regions vying to host Amazon include: New York, Atlanta, Pittsburgh, Dallas, Austin, Boston, the Bay area in California, and Washington DC. In what officials say is being “a little un-Canadian,” mayors say they want to showcase the region’s “unmatched cultural diversity to Amazon executives and … show off our amazing quality of life.”