Central Canada Lacking Confidence

The Synergy Merchant Services Blog has often spoke proudly about Canada’s ability to recover from the recession. We have not been quiet about the fact that the nation’s small businesses are a primary reason for the economic growth that the country has seen since the financial crisis crippled the globe.

Thankfully, our licensed funding specialists have had the pleasure of speaking with numerous owners of small and mid-sized businesses in Canada to receive a first hand account of their perseverance. If we were to be polled here at Synergy, about the overall confidence of these business owners, we would estimate that it is sky-high.

Surprisingly however, this is not necessarily the case with owners all throughout the nation. Today, a QMI Agency report reveals that “confidence among small and medium-sized business owners is concentrated in the extreme east and extreme west of the country.” This, according to two separate polls released earlier today, is the case.

Of course, our funding specialists weren’t polled, but both the Canadian Federation of Independent Business and the Bank of Montreal found that employers on the east and west coasts of the country are the most confident. Entrepreneurs in Ontario and Quebec, on the other hand…not so much.

As the QMI article explains, “an index level above 50 means owners expect their businesses’ to perform better in the next year.” The CFIB study found that business owner confidence dropped from 66.4 in June to 65.7 in July. Meanwhile, owners in the east coast province of Newfoundland had a reading of 71.9. Over on the west coast province of British Columbia, confidence was at a 70.3 reading.

According to CFIB Vice-President and Chief Economist Ted Mallett: “The estimates for July have fallen in eight of 13 industry groupings and seven out of 10 provinces, suggesting the economy is settling into a phase of slower growth. Business owners are likely betting on higher interest rates and slower growth into the future.”

The BMO study found that 77% of Canadian business owners believe that economic recovery is well underway. And yet again, provinces in Western Canada ranked much higher than the national average with 90% of those being polled showing signs of confidence. The study found that “80% of respondents say they are actively investing in, and/or spending on, their company.”

Like the CFIB report, the BMO findings also concluded that business owners on both the west and east coasts of Canada are more likely to spend and invest in their businesses than those in Quebec. Nevertheless, as Gail Cocker, BMO’s senior vice-president of commercial banking stated, business spending in Canada has increased “which is a step in the right direction.”