Per The Globe and Mail, Amazon.com Inc. is building a fulfillment centre that will create 600 full time jobs. On Tuesday Amazon announced that employees in the eastern suburb of Orleans will be working in the new warehouse busy packing and shipping household decor, sporting equipment and gardening tools.
This will be the company's eighth warehouse in Canada. Other warehouses are located in Ontario, British Columbia, Alberta and a technology hub in Vancouver. Amazon is also in the process of looking for a location for its second North American headquarters which will be called HQ2. The exact location will be announced sometime this year but chances are very good that Toronto will get that honor.
"Ontario continues to be a great place for Amazon to do business and we look forward to adding a fulfillment centre in the National Capital Region. Our ability to expand in Ontario and create more than 600 new jobs is the result of two things: incredible customers and an outstanding workforce. Amazon is committed to providing great opportunities for employment and creating a positive economic impact for the region."
Director of Amazon operations in Canada | Glenn Sommerville
Broccolini will be constructing this facility which will encompass 92,900 square metres. This is the real estate developer behind the CBC and Radio-Canada headquarters in Montreal and the 50 storey, mixed use tower across from the Bell Centre also in Montreal.
Per the Global News, this facility will be located at 5225 Boundary Road. Councillor Blais stated that he would be tabling a motion to defer the development fee for extending services out to the facility and forgo the interest fee on said payment. The developer, Broccolini, would then pay the city back the $8-$9 million that it would cost to extend the services out that far. Mayor Jim Watson then said, "If I give you $800,000 and you give me $8 million back, well that's a pretty good deal."
Mayor Watson stated that even though Ottawa lost out on the opportunity to have Amazon build offices in the city last year, the city did work hard to make sure the centre would be built here. Watson said, "When we started the Amazon HQ2 talks, we were focusing just on that and we recognize that was going to be a steep hill to climb. So in the discussions that I had with various Amazon officials, we also looked at what other opportunities were available."
According to Narcity, Amazon has not yet announced when the hiring process for the facility will begin. There will be hundreds of Fulfillment Associate positions to fill. As an Associate, there will be many different Amazon services that will be accepting applications including Amazon Prime, Amazon Fresh and Amazon Pantry.
Per The Globe and Mail, Stephen Blais, Ottawa City Councillor, foresees this facility creating more than 1500 construction jobs. The company already employees more than 6,000 workers in Canada and 2,000 full time associates at its Brampton, Mississauga and Milton facilities.
There were many politicians from all levels of government at the announcement ceremony on Tuesday and they all agreed that this distribution facility would bring economic growth to Ontario and the country. Ontario Premier, Doug Ford said "We applaud Amazon for making this investment and we look forward to doing our part to help other top employers create and protect good jobs in our province. Ontario is open for business."
