Amazon (NASDAQ:AMZN) is expanding in Ontario.
The world’s largest online retailer has announced plans to open two new distribution centres in Ontario that will create more than 2,500 new full-time jobs.
Amazon will open a new 79,400-square-metre warehouse adjacent to the airport in Hamilton, and hire 1,500 employees who will pack and ship small items such as books, electronics and toys.
A second 92,900 square-metre warehouse east of Toronto in Ajax will have more than 1,000 employees who will pack and ship larger items such as sports equipment, patio furniture, pet food and various household goods.
Amazon said the two new operations will open in 2021. The new distribution centres bring Amazon's total in Ontario to 10 and 16 across all of Canada. Amazon also confirmed plans for five new delivery stations in Ontario, including Kitchener, Stoney Creek, Vaughan and two in Toronto in the Etobicoke and Scarborough neighbourhoods.
Amazon now employs more than 21,000 people in Canada.
Despite the growth, the federal Competition Bureau last month launched a probe into Amazon's conduct to determine whether the online retailer is harming competition. Specifically, the agency is reviewing whether Amazon policies impact sellers' willingness to offer their products at a lower price on other retail channels, such as their own websites or rival online marketplaces.
The bureau is also looking into any efforts by Amazon to tilt consumers toward its own products over those offered by competing domestic vendors, as well as any disadvantage that sellers incur by opting out of Amazon's shipping, customer relations and advertising services.
