Langford’s mayor ready to pursue other tech companies after Amazon bid fails

WATCH: Langford didn’t make the short-list for Amazon’s second headquarters but Mayor Stewart Young says the bid was still worthwhile. April Lawrence reports.

Amazon has narrowed down the list of communities vying for its $5 billion second headquarters from 238 to 20.

Vancouver and Langford were the two B.C. communities hoping to catch the tech giant’s eye, but Amazon has released its short-list and the west coast communities didn’t make the cut.

“Hey we knew it was a bit of a long shot obviously to do it but we wanted to go through the exercise to do it and put Langford’s name out there,” said Langford Mayor Stewart Young.

A long shot largely because one of Amazon’s requirements was a population of one million.

Finalists announced Thursday are all metropolitan centres, including Boston, Nashville and Atlanta, with only one, Los Angeles, situated on the west coast.

Toronto is the only Canadian city to make the cut.

But Langford officials say just because they didn’t land the tech giant doesn’t mean the bid was a failure.

“It gets Langford’s name further afield into an international competition which is no small thing for us,” said WestShore Chamber of Commerce executive director Julie Lawlor.

And the city plans to build on the bid it has already spent roughly $15,000 putting together

“The ability to have a really solid package and promotional material for our community is going to help us attract jobs,” said Young.

The city also learned a lot about what a tech company wants including a local post-secondary campus and better transportation.

“We have to be able to keep pace with those to make sure we’re offering the quality of life as well as the business opportunities to get people to come here,” said Lawlor.

The mayor says now that they have a package together, he’s ready to go after other tech companies big or small.

“We’ll promote even if it’s five or 10 tech jobs, or a company like that, up to an Amazon,” Young said. “We’re not going to shy away from anything.”

Amazon Top 20

-Atlanta
-Austin
-Boston
-Chicago
-Columbus
-Dallas
-Denver
-Indianapolis
-LA
-Miami
-Montgomery Co., MD
-Nashville
-Newark, NJ
-NYC
-Northern VA
-Philadelphia
-Pittsburgh
-Raleigh
-Toronto
-Washington, DC

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