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Comment by slededit | Hacker News Reader

Toronto was able to make the short list without any tax incentives.

I think Toronto is the token Canadian city that Amazon is using to enable them to negotiate on a Federal level as well.

Or to hedge against the US immigration policy that could hurt their labor supply in the long term. It was not lost on me that half my engineering grad school classmates wouldn't pass the Bannon/Miller test.

Which test are you referring to? Googling returns nothing.

It's a joke -- (Steve) Bannon and (Stephan) Miller are notoriously xenophobic, nationalist aides to President Trump known for their hardline stance on immigration.

I wouldn't bet the farm on this.

Toronto has a better infrastructure than most US cities on the list, saner immigration policies, wages low enough (even if you compare the total cost of employment) to possibly make up for any tax discount. Canada's image is good among European and East Asian tech workers willing to relocate. And its tech scene, while not huge, is decently sized.

Made the short list? People say that like it's an accomplishment.

Jesus, Amazon is milking this for all it can and nearly every city is bending over backwards for Amazon.

The point is Toronto isn't offering any special deal and yet is competitive with cities offering massive incentives. A lot of news outlets are discounting it.

What evidence is there that they are actually competitive with the other cities and not just throw into the mix in an attempt to extract concessions from the US federal government in addition to the local governments?

That's kind of my point. How do we know Toronto is competitive? It's just a list Amazon put together. Maybe they have zero intention of ever picking Toronto.

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