Prime Minister Justin Trudeau was on hand Monday to announce that Amazon Inc. would be expanding its Vancouver operations to the tune of 3000 new jobs.
According an April 30 release, the Seattle-based tech giant’s Vancouver-based Development Centre will be seeking workers in e-commerce technology, cloud computing, and machine learning for its 416,000-square-foot space, which will be located in the Post, a converted mid-20th century post office located in the city’s Crosstown neighbourhood.
In an April 30 release of his own, Trudeau called Amazon’s announcement “a testament to Canada’s highly-skilled, diverse workforce and tremendous potential as an innovation and tech hub.”
“Tech talent and investment are coming to our country in record numbers, and companies like Amazon are bringing even more energy, vision – and thousands of good jobs – to Canada,” Trudeau said. “We are proud to champion these companies, who invest in our talent and the future of our economy, and create new opportunities for Canadians to succeed.”
For his part, Amazon vice president of Canada and Mexico Gagnon said the company was “excited” to create 3000 new “highly-skilled” jobs in Vancouver.
“Vancouver is home to an incredibly talented and diverse workforce, and these thousands of new employees will invent on behalf of our customers worldwide,” Gagnon said.
Vancouver mayor Gregor Robertson, meanwhile, called the announcement “great news for our city’s booming innovation economy.”
Amazon already employs more than 6000 full-time workers across Canada, including more than 1000 researchers and engineers in Vancouver who primarily create new products and services for the company’s international retail and Amazon Web Services (AWS) businesses.
Despite Amazon’s boundless praise on Monday, Vancouver is not among the 20 cities being considered for the company’s well-publicized second headquarters. Of the many Canadian cities that submitted applications for the (debatable) honour last year, only Toronto remains in the running.