Amazon Willing to Discuss Quebec Shutdown With Canadian Officials — 3rd Update
By Paul Vieira
OTTAWA--Amazon.com said it is open to talks with officials from the Canadian and Quebec governments about the company's decision to shut down operations in the country's French-speaking province, which would lead to 1,700 people losing their jobs.
The company's overture comes after Canadian Industry Minister Francois-Philippe Champagne warned Amazon Chief Executive Andy Jassy in a letter that the federal government would review its business ties with Amazon's cloud-computing arm, Amazon Web Services, or AWS. The unit has secured over $50 million in work from various federal departments since 2020, according to a database of awarded government contracts.
"We regularly have discussions with officials across Canada to discuss matters of interest," an Amazon spokesman said. "We're happy to discuss this matter further with Minister Champagne and other officials in Quebec and Canada."
Amazon, however, gave no indication that it would reverse course on its Quebec decision to shut down warehouses in the province in the next two months, and return to a third-party delivery model. Amazon said that decision was made after a thorough review of operations in the province.
Local labor organizations allege Amazon's withdrawal from Quebec is linked to efforts by company workers to unionize. The company has denied that labor issues were a factor.
Champagne, in the letter to Jassy that the minister posted on social media, criticized Amazon, saying the shutdown of Quebec operations "is inconsistent with your expressed interest in being a leader and strategic partner within Canada's industrial economy." Champagne asked that Amazon management reconsider its decision.
On Friday, Champagne said he has received praise from constituents and other Canadians for trying to confront Amazon. "Amazon is not used to that kind of response from Canada," Champagne said. "We have to stand up for Canada and its workers. This is about treating Canada with respect."
Write to Paul Vieira at paul.vieira@wsj.com