Amazon.ca: If It Walks Like A Canadian Goose, Honks Like A...

from the strange-Canadian-laws dept

theodp writes "Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos delayed his flight back to the States to respond to allegations that the newly launched Amazon.ca site violates Canada's investment regulations, which require businesses that distribute, publish or retail books in Canada to be controlled by a Canadian company. In a prepared statement, Amazon argued government approval was not needed because the company "does not have employees or a place of business in Canada", since warehousing and distribution for the site were outsourced to Assured Logistics, a brand new subsidiary of Progistix-Solutions, a recently acquired subsidiary of the government-owned Canada Post. "We have no operations here," Bezos added separately. So, if you buy into Amazon's argument, an agency of the Canadian government is providing government warehouses and government employees to allow Amazon to circumvent Canada's own protectionist legislation. Holy Dilbert, Batman! Nevertheless, the Canadian Heritage department has confirmed it is reviewing Amazon.ca's business model to see if it violates the policy, which was previously used to bar Borders from setting up shop in Canada. "

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