Amazon (AMZN.O) has unveiled its shortlist of candidates for its HQ2, with Toronto as the lone Canadian city to make the cut.

The tech giant said it will “dive deeper” into each of the 20 candidates and it expects to make the final decision this year.  

“Thank you to all 238 communities that submitted proposals. Getting from 238 to 20 was very tough – all the proposals showed tremendous enthusiasm and creativity,” said Holly Sullivan, an executive of Amazon Public Policy, in a release.

“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.”

In a statement, Toronto Mayor John Tory said the city is "excited to have this opportunity." 

"There is no other city region in North America that can boast the same talent, the same quality of life, the same vibrancy and economic strength," he said. 

Ontario's Economic Development Minister Steven Del Duca and Ontario Premier Kathleen Wynne echoed Tory's sentiment. 

"Toronto stands out as an ideal destination with its talented and educated workforce, leading research and educational institutions, competitive investment climate, outstanding quality of life and vibrant, diverse communities," they said in a joint statement. 

But not everyone was so quick to boast optimism about the possibility of the new headquarters landing in Toronto. 

Peter Norman, vice president and chief economist at Altus Group, said while Toronto would be a great location for the new Amazon headquarters, the number of new jobs would put more pressure on the city's housing supply constraints. 

“I think Toronto would be great location for [Amazon’s second headquarters]. It has a lot of great factors that would be good for Amazon. But it’s going to make a real challenge for us because it exacerbates some of the challenges that we have had,” he said.  

Amazon said it expects to create 50,000 high-paying jobs and invest over US$5 billion in the city where it opens the new space. 

Abdullah Snobar, executive director at DMZ, said while it’s no surprise Amazon is considering Toronto, the city must tread carefully to avoid disrupting its budding tech industry. 

“If we give Amazon carte blanche to kind of just come in and figure out what they want, it’s going to be a disaster for our tech community,” he told BNN in an interview.

"Fifty-thousand jobs. That’s not [a] little amount of jobs that can be taken away from potentially billion-dollar companies that can be generated and created right here in the City of Toronto," he added. "So we have to look at the long term impacts of that. We could be killing the potential next Amazon by creating another Amazon [headquarters] here without looking at the implications of that." 

A number of Canadian cities submitted bids for the HQ2 including Vancouver, Calgary, and Ottawa. 

Here’s the list of cities that are still in contention for Amazon's second headquarters. 

Atlanta, GA

Austin, TX

Boston, MA

Chicago, IL

Columbus, OH

Dallas, TX

Denver, CO

Indianapolis, IN

Los Angeles, CA

Miama, Fl

Montgomery County, MD

Nashville, TN

Newark, NJ

New York City, NY

North  Virginia, VA

Philadelphia, PA

Pittsburgh, PA

Raleigh, NC

Toronto, ON

Washington, D.C.