Trudeau's letter to Amazon

Photo: The Canadian Press

As Canadian cities compete with each other — and dozens of jurisdictions south of the border — for Amazon's new $5-billion headquarters, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has pitched Canada to the company's founder.

In a letter addressed to Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos, Trudeau makes a general case why any prospective Canadian suitors could prove attractive as the retail behemoth's next corporate home.

Trudeau's letter, which starts with "Dear Jeff," does not single out any of the bidding cities, which include major centres like Toronto, Vancouver and Ottawa alongside acknowledged longshots like Halifax and Sault Ste. Marie, Ont.

Instead, Trudeau outlines commercial, cultural and social reasons why Amazon should call Canada home to its new headquarters — dubbed HQ2 — and the 50,000 jobs expected to come with it.

"Canadian cities are progressive, confident, and natural homes for forward-thinking global leaders," Trudeau's letter reads. "They are consistently ranked as the best places to live, work and play in the world."

Canada's business advantages include costs among the lowest in the G7, universal health care that lowers the cost to employers, stable banking systems, and a deep pool of highly educated prospective workers from both at home and abroad, according to Trudeau.

The letter also touches on increased government investment in skills development, culturally diverse, walkable cities and streamlined immigration processes — an apparent dig at U.S. President Donald Trump's anti-immigration policies.

At least one major bidder seized on that contrast as part of its formal proposal.

"We build doors, not walls," reads the cover letter from the group co-ordinating the bid from Toronto and several surrounding municipalities. "Those doors open to highly skilled economic immigrants and international students who can easily become permanent residents and citizens."