Ford says it's a vote of confidence to the Canadian workforce
Up to 2,500 jobs will be available to Canadians as Facebook's parent company Meta sets up its own engineering hub in Toronto. Meta said in an announcement that majority of the available roles will be focused on engineering, before it is expected to expand to "span across building extended reality experiences and Meta technologies".
The roles will also vary from remote to in-office employees, according to Meta, adding that they will lend a hand in building the "metaverse," which the company dubbed as the "next generation of social technology."
"Canada has always been important to Meta,” Garrick Tiplady, VP and Country Director at Meta in Canada. “We've helped millions of Canadians and businesses connect, create, and grow and we're looking forward to continuing to support the Canadian economy and innovation ecosystem with these investments.”
Ontario Premier Doug Ford welcomed Meta's expansion to Toronto, adding that it is a "vote of confidence" to the workforce there.
"This major investment builds on Meta's long-term commitment to our province and is a strong vote of confidence in our skilled and diverse workforce," added said. "It sends a clear signal to the rest of the world that Ontario is, once again, the best place anywhere to do business."
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Vic Fedeli, Ontario Minister of Economic Development, Job Creation and Trade, also said the expansion to Toronto is a testament to the province's "incredibly talented workforce."
"Our province is home to an incredibly talented workforce, strong postsecondary education sector, and a world-class innovation ecosystem – and Meta's investment in Ontario is proof that all of these things make it the best place for the discovery and development of the technologies of the future," said Fedeli. "This exciting milestone for Meta will mean the creation of new jobs and will strengthen our province's innovation sector, and we congratulate them on this success."
In addition to the establishment of an engineering hub in Toronto, Meta said it will be investing an additional $510,000 in unrestricted grants to 17 Canadian research labs.
These labs will work on research that are needed to advance the innovation of the metaverse.
Meta's expanded presence in Canada will also pave the way to the establishment of the first Canadian WhatsApp, Messenger, and Remote Presence engineering teams and growing the Canadian Reality Labs and AI Research teams.