Gushing with optimism, business leaders and politicians prepare to attract Amazon

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 14/09/2017 (2696 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Winnipeg’s efforts to woo tech giant Amazon to build it’s proposed mammoth second headquarters in the city continued Thursday when Premier Brian Pallister met with a group of high-profile business leaders as the first stage of preparing a local bid.

The Manitoba business leaders, dubbed the Premier’s Enterprise Team, gathered at the legislative building with Pallister and Winnipeg Mayor Brian Bowman to begin outlining a strategy to lure Amazon, which last week announced plans to invest more than US$5 billion in a new campus, creating an estimated 50,000 jobs over the next 10 to 15 years.

The effort by the Pallister and Bowman has been criticized as political grandstanding and unrealistic, given the Winnipeg doesn’t even have the one million population Amazon cited in its initial criteria requirements.

At the same time, Winnipeg will be competing with cities from across North America, from Toronto to Chicago to Mexico City. Almost every major city in Canada and the U.S. has expressed interest.

Pallister, however, opened his remarks Thursday addressing the “naysayers” who “have expressed negativity about this… that we don’t stand a chance. Essentially, why bother?”

The premier, a former fastball pitcher, noted even baseball players that make it to Cooperstown strike out seven of 10 times.

“They’re in the hall of fame because they had the courage to put a bat in their hands and step up to the plate,” he noted. “You’re not going to win ’em all. But you better be willing to get up there and try. And we will try, and we will aim high.

“We’re ready to compete for business. We’re ready to compete for opportunities.”

Pallister called the Amazon expansion a “once-in-a-lifetime” possibility, which would potentially include more than eight million square feet of buildings and jobs that pay on average more than $100,000 annually.

“We’re ready to compete for business,” he said. “We have what it takes to become Amazon’s HQ2, but it’s up to us to take that argument forward.”

The Enterprise Team is co-chaired by Hartley Richardson, president and chief executive officer of James Richardson & Sons Ltd., and Payworks CEO Barb Gamey.

Bowman noted assembling such a team of business leaders, working in conjunction with the city and province, was “long overdue.”

At the very least, participating in the HQ2 bidding process will not only lay the groundwork for attracting future projects and expansions, but also educate political and business leaders on what a city requires to compete for lucrative jobs of the future.

It’s why the city has been working on rapid and active transit and building a city for one million people, Bowman said. “When you take a look at what Amazon is looking for, that’s a sign of things to come.”

Still, Bowman wasn’t conceding Winnipeg’s chances, despite the odds, due to it’s “transformational” nature.

“I don’t agree with the premise that it’s a public relations effort,” he said. “I think it’s a legitimate bid that the premier is assembling a team to go after (the headquarters). Whether we’re going to be successful or not remains to be seen. There are other cities that are going to be doing their best to get the bid for HQ2.

“The question is should we just pack up and say, ‘Well, let’s not even try.’ That’s not good enough for Winnipeggers. It’s not good enough for my family and my kids who want to stay here. So the sooner that we start working collaboratively with the province to attract jobs — whether it’s this bid or others — the better,” Bowman said.

“The opportunity and the scale of this investment… I mean, we’re talking billions. It’s a big deal. Are we assured we’re going to get it? Absolutely not. It is going to be a lot of work to try to be successful.”

There is wide speculation Amazon’s bidding process would involve major tax concessions or land from any winning bidder. When asked what the city would be prepared to ante up, Bowman said he’d take a pragmatic approach.

“I’d want to do a business case,” he said. “I’d want to look at what is being asked. I’d want see what the benefit is before answering that more definitively. Obviously, the province would likely be making the same assessment.

“And I would expect we would do that in an open and transparent way for the citizens and the taxpayers that we serve. But, yeah, I wouldn’t be surprised if they’re looking for investments.”

The Seattle-based Amazon hasn’t hinted at any potential locations, saying only it will consider urban or suburban locations in metropolitan areas of at least one million people in a “stable and business-friendly environment.”

Other criteria includes access to international airports, major highways and public transportation.

The electronic commerce company said it is asking cities and metropolitan areas to turn in requests for proposals by Oct. 19, and it plans to choose a location next year.

randy.turner@freepress.mb.ca

Twitter: @randyturner15