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Author of the article:
The Canadian Press
Anja Karadeglija
Published Jan 24, 2025 • 1 minute read
OTTAWA — The federal industry minister is calling for a review of Ottawa’s “business relationship” with Amazon after the company said it will close all seven of its warehouses in Quebec.
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“They’ll have me fighting to make sure that this is not going to go unanswered in Canada,” Industry Minister Francois-Philippe Champagne said.
The closure will eliminate 1,700 permanent jobs and 250 temporary ones. It comes after workers at an Amazon warehouse in the Montreal suburb of Laval, Que. managed to unionize in May.
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Amazon is dismissing the suggestion that the closures are linked to a unionization push in the province and says it’s about delivering efficient and cost-effective services to customers.
Champagne hasn’t said how the federal government might respond. Ottawa has ongoing contracts with Amazon and the federal government’s website lists more than 200 contracts worth more than $10,000 signed since 2020.
“I’m not going to tell them what I’m going to do in advance. That’s called negotiation 101,” he said. “Let them reconsider, let them figure out what we might do as a review.”
Champagne said he spoke with the CEO of Amazon Canada and sent a letter to Amazon CEO Andy Jassy saying it’s not too late to reconsider. He posted the letter online Thursday evening.
“We’re standing up. I can tell you they were quite surprised,” he said. “I think we had more than one million views yesterday, so they’re not used to that kind of response from Canada, and I’m glad we did it.”
Champagne said the company wasn’t transparent about the extent of the layoffs in the conversation with Amazon, adding he got only half the story.
“This is also about treating Canada with respect,” he said. “I’m even less pleased than I was yesterday.”
— With files from Tara Deschamps
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Jan. 24, 2025.
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