Toronto is the only Canadian city on Amazon Inc.’s short list of 20 candidates for a second North American headquarters.http://business.financialpost.com/technology/toronto-on-shortlist-for-amazons-new-headquarters-hq2

The e-commerce giant received 238 applications for the opportunity and says narrowing it down to 20 was very tough.

The other Canadian communities that applied but didn’t make the short list include Hamilton, Ottawa-Gatineau, Sault Ste. Marie, Simcoe County, Halifax, Montreal, Calgary, Edmonton, Vancouver, Winnipeg and Windsor.

Amazon says it plans to choose the location later this year after diving deeper into the proposals from its top cities.

The largest e-commerce company said it would work with each of the candidate locations to get more information and evaluate the feasibility of a future partnership.

Amazon said in September it would build a $5 billion second headquarters in North America, kicking off a competition between cities and states to offer tax cuts and incentives that could bring 50,000 high-paying new jobs.

The list reveals little in terms of geographic preferences, with finalists on both coasts and the heartland. Amazon found it difficult to engage with so many applicants and had to whittle the list to enter the next phase of evaluation.

“Getting from 238 to 20 was very tough – all the proposals showed tremendous enthusiasm and creativity,” Holly Sullivan, of Amazon Public Policy, said in a statement. “Through this process we learned about many new communities across North America that we will consider as locations for future infrastructure investment and job creation.”

Whatever city gets chosen will be transformed by Amazon, which has already changed the character of its native Seattle, setting in motion a building boom and rising rents. High paying tech jobs can permanently transform a region and raise the political prospects of the leader who helped seal the deal.

Amazon has said its preferences for the site include a metropolitan location with a population of more than 1 million, mass transit, proximity to an international flight hub and the potential to retain and attract technical talent.

Here’s the list:

– Toronto, ON

– Atlanta, GA

– Austin, TX

– Boston, MA

– Chicago, IL

– Columbus, OH

– Dallas, TX

– Denver, CO

– Indianapolis, IN

– Los Angeles, CA

– Miami, FL

– Montgomery County, MD

– Nashville, TN

– Newark, NJ

– New York City, NY

– Northern Virginia, VA

– Philadelphia, PA

– Pittsburgh, PA

– Raleigh, NC

– Washington D.C.

With files from Reuters and Bloomberg