Toronto wasn't chosen because Toronto wasn't competitive. People that live in Toronto talk about how they're underpaid and how their tech sector pales in comparison to major US cities. Even many Waterloo CS graduates have a "US or bust" type mentality because of the labor market disparities.

Amazon would be foolish to choose a location in Canada due to a their healthcare system and immigration situation. Healthcare isn't that big a deal to a company like Amazon and regardless of the current administration, Americans have never been more supportive of immigration.

Canadians were naive to think they were competitive for an Amazon, and they're wrong if they think Amazon would have chosen them if they weren't so concerned about blowback.

Sometimes, America being welcoming to big businesses has its advantages.

We lost the bidding war. Seeing what concessions the other cities coughed up ... I'm maybe glad we didn't "win".

Kinda pointless to open a huge office for recruitment, where virtually all your top talent is trying to get to the US to benefit from far better employment terms and compensation.

As a single location I agree. However, since they picked two, picking Toronto as one of them could've been a good idea. They can pay much higher than marker rate there to keep local talent and the easier immigration is a big plus. My guess is that the proximity of NYC and Arlington, VA was a key factor. It's much easier to travel when you can just hop on a train for a few hours.

How could Amazon's HQ2 open in Toronto? What percentage of global talent would be willing to move there?

Toronto dodged a bullet.