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After enduring a punishing recession that led to thousands of layoffs, most Calgarians are willing to see the city spend some money to try to make some more — and create new jobs.

In a new Mainstreet Research poll for Postmedia, 62 per cent of Calgarians favour the city using tax dollars to pursue the second corporate headquarters of online retailing behemoth Amazon, and they have some support from the front-runners pursuing the mayor’s chair.

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The e-commerce giant made headlines last month declaring it’s looking to spend $5 billion and create up to 50,000 jobs for its new “HQ2.”

Amazon wants interested cities to send in their bids by Oct. 19.

The announcement has sparked intense activity across the United States and Canada from hopeful cities — including Calgary, Edmonton, Toronto and Vancouver — that are preparing applications.

Aside from meeting a series of technical criteria, Amazon wants prospective communities to detail what kind of incentives and tax breaks they are prepared to provide.