Canada's Minister of Innovation, Science, and Industry - François-Philippe Champagne - has written to Amazon's CEO Andy Jassy, requesting the company reconsider its decision to shut down the distribution centers in Quebec.
On January 22, Amazon announced that it would be closing seven warehouses in Quebec over the next two months, cutting more than 1,700 workers as a result.
In the letter, shared publicly to X, formerly known as Twitter, Champagne writes of his "strong disappointment" over the decision, encouraging Jassy to reconsider it "immediately."
Champagne states that while Amazon says it values its workers and aims to be "Earth's best employer," the decision to lay off workers and close down warehouses is "inconsistent with those values."
He adds that Amazon's various business units, including Amazon Web Services (AWS), have over the past few years sought to partner with Canadian businesses and the government.
Champagne said that the move has raised questions about Amazon's "commitment to Canada," and as a result "such action calls for a review of the business relationship that exists between Amazon and the Government of Canada."
DCD has reached out to the Canadian Government and Amazon for comment on the matter.
It's been speculated that the decision to shut down Quebec's warehouses is an attempt to prevent Amazon employees from unionizing.
In May last year, 240 Amazon workers at a warehouse in Montreal unionized and were the first of the company's Canadian warehouse workers to do so. Amazon challenged the union formation but lost the labor tribunal in October 2024.
Global News reported that New Democratic Party leader Jagmeet Singh said of the closures: “What is happening in Quebec is very clearly Amazon trying to union-bust. These are workers that were trying to unionize, and Amazon is shutting down operations in the complete region, just to stop them from demanding fairness."
An Amazon spokesperson, Barbara Agrait, has denied that the decision was related.
Canadian government customers of AWS include the border services, Health Canada, the government of Ontario, Library and Archives Canada, BC Hydro, and the Municipal Property Assessment Corporation, among others. AWS' website states that it works with 6,500 public sector organizations in Canada, and the Canadian government database which tracks the awarding of contracts suggests that AWS has received more than CA$50 million (US$34.9m) in work from the government since 2020.
AWS has two cloud regions in Canada - Canada West and Canada Central, the former of which launched in December 2023. Both Microsoft and Google Cloud have regions in the country.