It’s deadline day for the cities vying to host Amazon’s second headquarters and Mayor John Tory says that he remains “very optimistic” about the Greater Toronto Area’s chances despite what is expected to be steep competition.

Interested parties will have until 9 p.m. (midnight Pacific Time) to submit a formal proposal to Amazon to host a massive 50,000 job campus that the online retailing giant has dubbed “HQ2”

Though the Seattle Times has reported that more than 150 North American cities have declared their intentions to submit a bid, Tory told CP24 on Thursday that few will have as well-rounded a bid as the Toronto region.

“Toronto is the best spot because it has the deepest talent pool, it’s got a diversity that’s second to none, its got fabulous educational institutions and it has got a quality of life that is better that the quality of life in basically any other city in North America. I think all of that put together is going to cause them to look very seriously at our region,” Tory said.

The Toronto region’s bid was prepared by Toronto Global, which is a government-funded agency tasked with attracting global investment to Toronto and the GTA.

In a statement released earlier on Thursday, Tory noted that downtown Toronto is home to a number of existing buildings that could accommodate Amazon’s headquarters right now. He said that there are also plans for the development of 18 million square feet of new space that could be delivered between 2019 and 2026.

Amazon has previously said it will require 500,000 square feet in building space by 2019 and up to eight million square feet in space by 2027.

“They want to establish a meaningful and substantial new campus in a place that is some distance away from Seattle. Where they have a rich pool of talent, which we have, a great quality of life, which we have and great universities of their own, which we have,” Tory told CP24.

Amazon has previously said that it will give preference to metropolitan areas with more than one million people and a “stable and business-friendly” environment in selecting the site for its new headquarters.

Amazon has also said that the availability of tax incentives to “offset initial capital outlay and ongoing operational costs will be significant factors” in its decision, though the Ontario government has ruled out offering any new incentives to the company.

In a statement issued earlier on Thursday, Premier Kathleen Wynne nonetheless said that Amazon should give serious consideration to a number of Ontario-based bids.

“Some have asked whether Amazon can afford to operate in Ontario. I think time will prove that the more relevant question is whether Amazon can afford not to be here,” Wynne wrote. “For two straight years, Ontario has won Site Selection Magazine’s Canadian Competitiveness Award for being the best place in Canada to make a new business investment. We continue to attract more foreign direct investment than any other Canadian province. Businesses here pay lower corporate taxes than in U.S. states, and the percentage of adults with a postsecondary education exceeds that of any OECD nation.”

In her statement, Wynne said that she has personally written to Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos to tout the benefits of locating his company’s second headquarters in Ontario and firmly believes that the province offers “exactly the kind of foundation a company like Amazon needs to reach new heights.”

In addition to the Toronto Region, Ottawa/Gatineau and Sault St. Marie have also submitted bids to Amazon.