New Era gets an idea in his head and then anyone that doesn't agree 100% with everything he says is an idiot or is speaking emotionally. Pot: kettle.
Of course there are criteria and logistics that need to be met, but if they were the only issues at play, Amazon would have simply analyzed them internally themselves and quietly made a decision.
This was made public because it is primarily a political decision. Sure, the logistics are important, but it will mostly come down to which city wants it the most and is willing to cut them the best deal.
So it is entirely reasonable to discuss Calgary as a possible destination, because Calgary has two things that make it potentially hungry enough to make an aggressive bid: high current unemployment, and a need to diversify the economy.
Calgary has the youngest and most highly educated populace in Canada. And considering that Canada is better educated than the US in the aggregate, I think it is safe to assume that Calgary would compare favourably to most US cities in that regard as well.
Also, Calgary is in the unique position that much of its well educated workforce is currently unemployed. Typically, the unemployed ranks are dominated by the unskilled and poorly educated. But Calgary currently has an army of engineers, professionals, and well trained people out of work. I doubt there is another city in NA in a comparable situation.
As for your rebuttal (New Era) that the workforce is mostly in one industry, and thus its
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reliance on a single industry makes it subject to wild fluctuations in the economy and human resource availability...
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this just illustrates your personal bias to mold the facts to your own narrative. You yourself have argued as loudly as anyone on these threads that Alberta needs to diversify the economy. This is precisely what the Amazon opportunity would be about. Also, regardless of the fact that there are large fluctuations in demand for labour in Calgary because of the volatile nature of the O&G industry, the fact of the matter is that the availability
does exist at the moment. And that's the important thing, no?
The idea that Calgary would look at this as on opportunity to diversify the economy, and thus might have the motivation to bid aggressively, suggests that it is entirely reasonable to be having this discussion.