Wattpad picks Halifax over Calgary for new HQ

Wattpad chose Halifax over Calgary as the site of its second headquarters, citing concerns about Western separatism and cuts to Alberta’s tax credits for tech companies, according to the tech news service The Logic.

On Monday, Toronto-based Wattpad announced it will build a new office in Nova Scotia. Calgary had been among cities bidding to host the company.

At a business forum in Lake Louise last month, Calgary Economic Development chief executive Mary Moran told a group of Alberta business leaders, “We, as an organization, just lost a 1,000-person company that didn’t come to Calgary, selected another city, because they’re concerned about Wexit.”

Moran declined to identify the company at the time.

The Logic has learned that company was Toronto-based Wattpad, a tech firm with fewer than 200 employees that hosts user-generated fiction; the platform has over 80 million monthly users.

According to a source familiar with the negotiations but not authorized to speak publicly, the firm outlined its concerns in a written statement sent to Calgary Economic Development.

Earlier this year, Wattpad issued a request for proposals to cities interested in housing its second headquarters. Candidates had to be within a three-hour flight of Toronto and have fewer than 1.5 million people, according to media reports. CED submitted a proposal.

In August, Premier Jason Kenney’s government froze the Alberta investor tax credit program, which offered a 30-per-cent credit to private investors putting money into companies working in the innovation economy.

And there’s been increased discussion of Western provinces separating from Canada since the Oct. 21 federal election, which saw Justin Trudeau’s Liberals re-elected as a minority while failing to win a single seat in Alberta or Saskatchewan.

Moran did not directly respond to questions about whether Wattpad raised concerns beyond Wexit and the tax changes.

Wattpad declined to respond directly to The Logic’s questions.

“We don’t have any comment about the cities we spoke with for this process,” said spokesperson

Kiel Hume. Wattpad’s RFP said it would prefer a host city willing to help secure government subsidies, according to The Globe.

Halifax’s bid was a joint initiative that included Dalhousie University, the Atlantic Canada Opportunities Agency, Nova Scotia Business Inc. and the innovation hub Volta, Jesse Rodgers — CEO of Volta — told The Logic Tuesday.

Nova Scotia Business offers several incentives, including payroll rebates and an “innovate to opportunity” program, which provides up to 35 per cent of the salary of a new graduate working in tech.

Alberta’s previous NDP government set up a series of programs designed to encourage tech firms to grow in the province, but the UCP cancelled many of them since taking power after April’s provincial election.

They have so far ended a $5-million tax credit for capital investment, and credits for scientific research and economic development as well as interactive digital media tax credits. All in, the government claimed those cancellations would save over $400 million by 2022– 2023. Kenney’s office did not reply to a request for comment.