Small business optimism in BC continued to plummet in September falling another 3.5 points to 59.9.
According to the Canadian Federation of Independent Business (CFIB), the drop marks the third consecutive month that confidence has declined in the province dropping almost 10 points since June.
However, BC is one of many provinces in the same boat. “I think the one thing you can take note of actually is that this was across the board. I think this month you can attribute a lot of that to the fact that you see a lot of talk in the media about the small business federal tax changes and I think a lot of entrepreneurs are looking at those changes with some trepidation,” said Aaron Aerts, economist.
Despite the drop, BC actually went up from sixth to fifth place among the provinces.
Aerts is of the opinion that the newly-formed NDP government should not be made the scapegoat.
“The current government hasn’t really done anything to make entrepreneurs fearful yet I don’t believe. The budget has some pretty good elements in it and that is something that we looked at for some optimism but the reality is that there is still some uncertainty on exactly what the policy changes will look like.”
The lone concerning issue that remains for the CFIB is the $15 an hour minimum wage. “We just want to make sure that they don’t do it too fast and making sure that if they do, want that fifteen dollar minimum wage that they do some offsetting measures that help entrepreneurs cope with that,” added Aerts. “The wage commission is going to be announced soon and they will have some recommendations for the government and we look forward to working with the fair wage commission to provide that small business perspective and to make sure things are looked at from more than one side.”
Small business owners in Quebec were the most optimistic in Canada with a rating of 70.9.
An index between 65 and 75 points means the economy is growing at its potential.
The September 2017 findings are based on 810 responses, collected from a number of CFIB members.
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