Science grads seen as bid bait

Province seeks to lure Amazon HQ with talent

The Ontario government is bolstering the Detroit-Windsor bid for Amazon’s second headquarters by ramping up the province’s already impressive science and technology talent pool, Premier Kathleen Wynne’s business adviser says.

“From Detroit’s point of view, having Windsor just became a lot more attractive,” Ed Clark told the Star Wednesday, shortly after giving a speech at the Canadian Club in Toronto where he outlined what the government is doing to support the Ontario cities making a bid by Thursday’s deadline.

Rather than offering big cash incentives to entice Amazon and its 50,000 jobs, the focus is on expanding the number of science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) graduates by 25 per cent, from 40,000 to 50,000 annually, and spending $30 million to grow the number of students graduating with artificial intelligence master’s degrees to 1,000 annually.

Clark also outlined Ontario’s existing advantages, which include:

skilled employees who are 30 per cent cheaper thanks to the exchange, saving Amazon $1.5 billion a year;

Canada’s streamlined immigration policies, with access to a “vast pool of talent” from overseas who can arrive here in two weeks, compared to increasing restrictions on immigration in the U.S.;

and an existing pool of skilled people with world-leading education levels.

Clark, who was tasked by Wynne to co-ordinate the province’s role in helping Ontario cities lure Amazon, said this approach doesn’t play favourites. The other bidding cities include Toronto, Hamilton, Greater Simcoe (north of Toronto) and Ottawa.

“We’re basically saying we’re going to do this anyway (ramp up STEM and AI grads) and we’re delivering to every city the same core advantage: talent at a great price and access to world talent. So it works for Windsor as well.”

Mayor Drew Dilkens, who is involved in the Detroit-Windsor bid led by Detroit businessman Dan Gilbert, said the province has said all along its goal was to make sure the talent pipeline is full. While he would have liked the province to offer up a big pot of money as an incentive, he believes the talent strategy is especially helpful to the Detroit-Windsor bid.

“That’s part of the overall story we’re trying to tell, we have talent in two countries and we’re the only two metropolitan areas located so close on the border,” he said. If a certain worker can’t get into the U.S. due to tightening visa regulations, he or she can work out of the Windsor operation, he said. Entire departments can be located in Windsor or Detroit based on the staffing availability.

“It gives Amazon the flexibility to have locations very close to one another and it takes advantage of the best both countries have to offer in terms of incentives, in terms of talent and in terms of taxation and otherwise.”

Clark said the beauty of the Detroit-Windsor bid is that Amazon can take advantage of all the tax and incentive advantages Detroit has to offer, “and with Windsor you get access to all the talent pool in Ontario.”

The University of Windsor has 3,102 full-time undergraduates enrolled in STEM programs, up six per cent from the fall of 2016. Adding 25 per cent would translate to 775 additional students.

Council of Ontario Universities president David Lindsay said “Count us in,” in response to the announcement of increased enrolment that will take effect over the next five years. In a news release, he said the new STEM students will make Ontario “the single largest producer of post-secondary graduates in science, technology, engineering and math per capita in North America.”

Clark said there’s a “severe economic price” Amazon would pay by not locating in Ontario. “Because we have talent at a lower cost and access to world talent that can’t be duplicated in the U.S.”

But he acknowledged there may be political pressure for Seattlebased Amazon to stay in the U.S., where President Donald Trump’s American First policy has put pressure on firms contemplating out-of-country investment. If that’s the case, the Detroit-Windsor bid would allow Amazon to “get its cake and eat it, too,” said Clark. He said Ontario has: more higher-education grads per capita than any OECD country;

the largest cluster of information computer technology firms in North America next to the Silicon Valley;

a rising ICT presence, with 77,000 ICT jobs added between 2010 and 2015;

math test scores for high schoolers that are well above U.S. averages;

and 40,000 STEM graduates a year, which on a per-capita basis is second only to Massachusetts.

“But we’ll be first,” when 10,000 more grads are added, said Clark.

Opinions have been varied on Detroit-Windsor’s chances.

“We’ve been very quiet, we’re just busy getting the work done,” said the mayor, referring to the team led by Gilbert. He said he doesn’t mind being the underdog among more than 100 cities.

“At the end of the day we think we have a great story to tell with both Windsor and Detroit. We’re telling that story the best way we can and it will be up to Amazon what the next steps are.”