Simcoe County makes pitch for Amazon with North of Ordinary campaign

Simcoe.com
Oct. 23, 2017
Rick Vanderlinde

There’s a new kid on the block vying for Amazon’s lucrative second headquarters.

Simcoe County announced Oct. 19 it had put in a bid to attract the $5 billion investment that comes with an estimated 50,000 jobs to sites in Innisfil and Bradford West Gwillimbury.

There is a third site somewhere in South Simcoe, but the developers wish to keep the location anonymous.

Warden Gerry Marshall told media and business leaders at the regional airport in Oro-Medonte the sites meet the criteria Amazon is requesting.

“Everything Amazon is looking for, we have. We pass the mustard test,” Marshall said.

However, he acknowledged the competition is tough, with more than 100 cities across North America competing for the dot-com giant’s attention.

Marshall said if Amazon decides to locate in Canada and chooses a municipality on the outskirts of a larger city, Simcoe County is in a good position.

The GTA has several bids as well, including Milton, Hamilton-Burlington-Niagara, Oakville, Mississauga, Brampton, Pickering, Ajax, Toronto Vaughan and Markham.

“If they decide to go to downtown Toronto, we can’t compete,” he said. “But if it’s outside of there, we can compete with any municipality.”

The county has the land, transit, and educated workforce Amazon needs, Marshall said.

The Innisfil site is at Sideroad 20 and Line 6, next to a location for a new GO station. The BWG site is in the new Hwy. 400 employment lands just north of the Holland Marsh.

Putting together the bid was not costly for taxpayers with all the work being done in house, the county’s economic development manager Rachel Sullivan.

“We have an amazing story to tell and we need to brag about it. I think we are little too Canadian sometimes and we don’t always brag about out success,” Sullivan told reporters.

The county worked with officials in the provincial and federal governments to prepare its bid.

Marshall said county staff “pounced” on the opportunity as soon as it heard Amazon was searching for a new site.

“We’re all here for the same reasons Amazon should be here — quality of life, affordability, less hubbub. It’s just a great place to be.”

The county’s slogan for its Amazon pitch, which outlines its unique position as a growing economic zone within a recreational playground, is ‘North of Ordinary’.

Phase 1 of a new Amazon headquarters will require 500,000-square-feet of space and could exceed 8-million-square feet following full build out, which would take about 15 years.

Marshall said the county is not offering any special tax incentives to lure the global corporation here.

“There is nothing out of the ordinary. The municipalities may have their own policies and the county may match those. But there’s nothing extraordinary that we wouldn’t offer any other business.”

Meanwhile, Simcoe County’s neighbouring competitors in York Region are touting their sites in Vaughan and Markham as ideal locations for Amazon.

“York Region has the highest concentration of technology companies in the country and is already a top Canadian headquarter location,” York chairperson Wayne Emmerson said.