E-commerce giant Amazon will be building a million square foot facility in Caledon according to Real Estate News Exchange. This will be the fourth fulfillment centre in the Greater Toronto Area. Amazon says the new facility will create more than 800 full time jobs. They have a network of existing buildings in Ontario located in Brampton, Mississauga and Milton and a just announced million square foot facility in Ottawa. Amazon currently employs more than 2,000 full time workers in Ontario right now.
"We continue to be excited about our growth in Ontario and the opportunity to better serve our customers in the region." "We're seeing an incredible workforce and community support in Greater Toronto. It makes us proud to add a new fulfillment centre to better meet customer demand while creating more than 800 full time jobs with great pay and benefits to support the local economy."
Director of Amazon Operations in Canada | Glenn Sommerville
There is still no final word on the second headquarters that Amazon plans to build and no announcement has been made regarding which North American city it will be in. It is, however, planned to have up to $5 billion in investment and 50,000 job opportunities by the end of the year. Out of 20 cities that Amazon is considering, Toronto is the only Canadian finalist.
The Caledon fulfillment centre will handle the packing and shipping of relatively small items to customers such as electronics, toys and books. Between this facility and the new one in Ottawa, they will bring more than 1,400 new jobs to Ontario by the end of 2019. It is not yet known if Amazon will own the facility or lease it. The facility in Ottawa is being built and will be owned by Broccolini, a Montreal based developer and will contain almost 100 truck bays and will provide over 1,000 parking spaces.
Another new Canadian fulfillment centre in the Nose Creek Business Park in Balzac, Alta, just outside of Calgary is presently being constructed. The building will be more than 600,000 square feet and will employ up to 1,000 people. They are already hiring managers and other positions. All of their full time employees will receive the following starting on day one:
- Competitive hourly wages
- Medical, vision and dental coverage
- A group RRSP
- stock awards
- Performance based bonuses
- Career Choice which will pre-pay up to 95% of tuition for in-demand related fields
According to Newswire, Caledon Mayor Allan Thompson said, "Caledon is the ideal home for Amazon's latest Canadian expansion. I'm so pleased to welcome this world class, leading edge and customer focused organization to our community. The creation of good paying, stable, long term jobs will bolster our local economy and positively impact Caledon's future sustainability."
"Global tech companies are choosing to invest in Canada because of our stable business climate, highly skilled workforce and our growing innovation economy. We welcome the opening of Amazon's new fulfillment centre and the jobs it will bring to the hard-working residents of the region."
The Minister of Innovation, Science and Economic Development | Navdeep Bains
Amazon has other facilities throughout Canada in Ontario, British Columbia, Alberta and Quebec. In total they employ more than 6,000 people working at fulfillment centres, corporate offices, development centres and other facilities in these locations.