Toronto only Canadian city to make new Amazon hq shortlist
- Thread starter rafterman
- Start date
We don't have Trump to fuck them around for no reason, so that's a big plus for us
Supposedly they're closing in on making a decision.
http://www.cnbc.com/2018/05/16/amazon-hq2-search-amazon-has-visited-every-city.html
Regarding Downsview Airport (mentioned in above posts despite no reason to think it had any connection to Amazon HQ2 search), it is being sold to Public Sector Pension Investment Board,
http://www.cbc.ca/news/business/bombardier-quarterly-earnings-1.4646277
who will presumably then sell it off eventually to be developed.
Is there any chance someone would want to keep it as an airport runway, or anything else less mundane than more urban sprawl with condos, etc.?
http://www.cnbc.com/2018/05/16/amazon-hq2-search-amazon-has-visited-every-city.html
Regarding Downsview Airport (mentioned in above posts despite no reason to think it had any connection to Amazon HQ2 search), it is being sold to Public Sector Pension Investment Board,
http://www.cbc.ca/news/business/bombardier-quarterly-earnings-1.4646277
who will presumably then sell it off eventually to be developed.
Is there any chance someone would want to keep it as an airport runway, or anything else less mundane than more urban sprawl with condos, etc.?
Maybe Bombardier - as a part of the sale, they have continued usage of it for up to 5 years, guaranteed with possible options to extend. Bombardier, of course, manufactures planes in Downsview (used to be the Dash 8 plant - not sure if that's still the case). So until they move the plant, they'll need at least one runway. It's an interesting plant to tour, if you have the chance. I did a long time ago (when it was still called DeHavilland), and while I was there they were training some foreign pilots (I think they were from Zimbabwe) ahead of manufacturing/delivery of some Dash 8's.
When you think about it, having a working runway in such close proximity is not a bad thing for Amazon or any other major corp - the runway is long enough for small jets - so would definitely save some travel time for visiting execs.
After surviving a helicopter crash, Bezos said, "The biggest takeaway is: Avoid helicopters whenever possible! They’re not as reliable as fixed-wing aircraft.”
Absolutely untrue, Toronto has a vibrant and diverse tech community, the migration to the States is a trickle. The reason Amazon won't locate here, Toronto doesn't really need it, is that our city is Google territory. A fact highlighted on the show Silicon Valley.
https://careers.workopolis.com/advice/toronto-fastest-growing-market-tech-jobs-north-america/
While Jeff Bezos gets the publicity, Alphabet (Google) has been expanding its operations in our city. Some of it is causing controversy.
http://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-43493936
http://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-43493936
That's just wrong.
https://www.theglobeandmail.com/bus...rain-as-young-tech-talent-leaves-for-silicon/
The brain-drain of Canada's best and brightest technology, engineering + science students has been well-documented for years.
65% of software engineering students graduating from the Universities of Toronto, Waterloo and British Columbia leave Canada for lucrative jobs in the U.S., mostly to California and New York. Computer Eng and Computer Sciences grads are leaving in the 30+ percentiles. It's a huge problem that needs to be addressed.
In the meantime I'd like to know: where are all those thousands of "bright" young American professionals who threatened to relocate to Canada if/when Trump got elected. That big twitter-verse whoopla suddenly went silent.
Looks like they no-showed.
Believe what you will, it's a passe inferiority complex.
After the Subprime Meltdown, Toronto became a world class hub of commerce. Google was already here before it unfolded. As for BC, I don't know their situation. All the major American banks now have offices in Toronto, Bank of America has a Canadian office on Front St and JP Morgan Chase has over a dozen floors at the TD Center.
https://www.toronto.ca/wp-content/uploads/2017/08/8e65-partnership_and_action.pdf
After the Subprime Meltdown, Toronto became a world class hub of commerce. Google was already here before it unfolded. As for BC, I don't know their situation. All the major American banks now have offices in Toronto, Bank of America has a Canadian office on Front St and JP Morgan Chase has over a dozen floors at the TD Center.
https://www.toronto.ca/wp-content/uploads/2017/08/8e65-partnership_and_action.pdf
The GTA is now the fourth largest city in USA/Canada per population, it surpassed Chicago in 2014. It's behind LA, NYC and Houston. This dude was in town in early May:
Seriously?
My post had nothing to do with whether Toronto is a "world class city" or the fact it's the "4th largest in North America" lol. Or a powerful financial economic engine that attracts U.S banks and financial institutions.
I specifically responded to you saying the migration of graduating tech/eng students to the U.S. is a "trickle".
It is NOT. As I stated above it is alarmingly high. You cannot refute that.
Therefore I don't understand why you're talking about commerce and the fictionalized tv show Silicon Valley?
My post had nothing to do with whether Toronto is a "world class city" or the fact it's the "4th largest in North America" lol. Or a powerful financial economic engine that attracts U.S banks and financial institutions.
I specifically responded to you saying the migration of graduating tech/eng students to the U.S. is a "trickle".
It is NOT. As I stated above it is alarmingly high. You cannot refute that.
Therefore I don't understand why you're talking about commerce and the fictionalized tv show Silicon Valley?
But there IS a demand for Canadian grads. Any big tech company setting up in Canada will be an attraction which will help to retain some talent and reduce the drain and maybe even attract some back. It's not that Canada isn't producing tech talent, it's just that the draw is stronger in the States because the tech giants are all south of the border.
I think there is only the one useful runway left. What happens after Bombardier leaves? Strangely the news items and press release about the sale made no mention of what the new owners of the site, PSP Investments, plan to do with it, although it seems they own "one of the world's leading industrial airport investors and managers", so presumably that could be a possibility.
http://www.avialliance.com/avia_en/24.jhtml
Other than the runway and Bombardier building on the west side of it, there is also undeveloped land immediately to the east and north.
Damn right. There is more than enough escort info on this site to get rid of this and the political threads.
Toronto is larger than Houston. In North America, the GTA is only behind Mexico City, NYC, LA.
I corroborated your statement BPP, Toronto is bigger per population than Houston, although the Texas city is the fastest growing in the USA. Both Houston and Toronto have mediocre infrastructure but TO didn't have to deal with Hurricane Harvey.
The brain drain in Canada is due to the rest of the country not keeping pace with Toronto and Vancouver. And it's much cheaper to run a tech company out of Toronto than anywhere in California.
https://techvibes.com/2017/07/20/toronto-is-the-fastest-growing-tech-market-in-north-america
It means that our tech education is better than the US's and US companies pay better because certain platforms are more widely used there. After all, it's a far larger country. Those grads work contracts in the US and often return to work in Canada if comparable job opportunities arise or for family reasons.
I'm not seeing any of this as a negative. If our training is better than the US, our people will be hired down there. Their salaries are sent back to Canada or invested here at some point in housing. That means American money comes up to Canada.
