Justin Trudeau made his prime ministerial pitch to Silicon Valley on Thursday, and had a chance to push Toronto specifically as a place for Amazon’s second headquarters during a private meeting with the company’s chief executive.
Before the meeting with Jeff Bezos, Trudeau said the project would be a boon for any city’s local economy. He said he hoped Canada’s largest city was the recipient of the expected US $5 billion project that could result in 50,000 jobs.
The prime minister didn’t say what his government was willing to offer to land the project, instead speaking of what he called the “Canadian advantage.”
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Ottawa’s Paterson Group offers a million reasons to give
There’s a particular image that David Gilbert, President of Ottawa-based Paterson Group, is delighted to share. It’s a map of the Ottawa area and beyond covered with thousands of dots,
“We know that investing in Canada is a smart thing to do in this global economy. We have access to markets around the world with the trade deals we’re signing. We have an educated, diverse workforce that does incredibly great work,” Trudeau said.
“We’re going to continue to demonstrate why we know that Canada is such a great place to invest. I’m going to continue to make that case to every business leader I meet, including Jeff Bezos.”
Trudeau’s visit to San Francisco marked the first time in more than 70 years that a Canadian prime minister had come to the city, and his first in-person pitch to Silicon Valley.
Trudeau said his government would continue to fast-track visas for skilled workers in the tech sector, because those companies want to bring more global talent to North America.
“We know that bringing in great talent from around the world is a tremendous benefit, not just to the companies that want to do that, but to Canadian jobs and to our country as a whole, so we’re going to continue to do that.”
