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Amazon is coming to Winnipeg.
The online distributing giant is repurposing a 113,000-square-foot facility at 11 Plymouth Street in the northeast quarter of the city, six minutes from James Richardson International Airport, to turn it into a last mile delivery centre for capital region.
Key for the province is it will create about 300 new jobs for the region.
“Every job’s important, so this gives us that start that we’ve been looking for,” said Economic Development and Training Minister Ralph Eichler at a press conference Monday at the Manitoba Legislature. “We’ve seen numbers increase on its own, but when you have multi-national companies like Amazon coming to Winnipeg, certainly it gives us that faith in what we are doing as government to make sure we have the right checks and balances and the right attitude to attract businesses like this.”
There are already major distribution and sorting centres in Alberta, British Columbia and Ontario, but this new facility will help improve service in the region. All products from the distribution centres will be flown into Winnipeg and then sent to the Winnipeg facility where it will be delivered directly from there via independent contractor.
Amazon chose Winnipeg due to an increase in demand and business in the area.
“The plan for a site considers quite a few factors in mind and we do it on a long term basis, and we definitely see Winnipeg and Manitoba fulfilling those,” said Tushar Kumar, regional director for the Amazon Last Mile Logistics Operations for Amazon Canada.
Kumar said the company promises competitive wages and benefits for their employees starting on Day 1.
Over the last 10 years, when Amazon expanded to Canada, they have invested $11 billion in the country through their workforce and infrastructure and employ more than 21,000 people.
Manitoba Liberal Leader Dougald Lamont derided the announcement on Twitter, calling Amazon “a company built on tax avoidance and public giveaways, owner by the richest man in the world, with a history of lousy pay and terrible working conditions.”
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