By Sarah Klein
Mayor Sam Katz (left to right), Eugene Roman of Canadian Tire, Premier Greg Selinger and Bill Morrissey of Yes! Winnipeg cut the virtual ribbon at an announcement for the Canadian Tire Cloud Computing Centre on Thursday, May 2, 2013. (BERNICE PONTANILLA / METRO WINNIPEG)
Canadian Tire is opening up a new national computing centre in Winnipeg’s downtown.
The state-of-the-art digital content warehouse, application lab, testing lab and high performance data centre will be located in the Air Canada Centre on Portage Avenue.
The 28,000-square-foot facility will bring 50 new jobs to the city during its first year and be one of the most advanced centres of its kind in North America.
“The Canadian Tire Advanced Cloud Computing Centre will serve as the core digital hub for the Canadian Tire Family of Companies, including Canadian Tire Retail, Mark’s, FGL Sports, Partsource, Gas+ and our Financial Services division,” said Eugene Roman, chief technology officer of Canadian Tire Corporation. “We’re entering the next phase of our digital journey and we’re excited that our journey puts the Winnipeg community front and centre.”
The province contributing up to $1 million in tax credits, while the City of Winnipeg is also providing undisclosed incentives.
The centre will open in the fall of 2013.
