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Among smaller population areas, Lloydminster AB, Barrie ON, Grande Prairie AB and Collingwood ON have fastest growing small business sectors

The entrepreneurial spirit of Canadians is alive and well according to a new study of 136 areas across the country.  The BMO Financial Group study, issued today, has determined that despite the recent turbulent economic times, the number of small businesses across Canada continued to grow during the 1998 to 2002 period by around three per cent.

The report, “In Search of Canada’s Small Business Hotbeds”, examines 25 large population areas (Census Metropolitan Areas or CMAs) and 111 smaller areas (Census Agglomerations or CAs), and ranks them based on the number of small businesses per capita as well as by the level of new business growth from 1998 to 2002. 

“This study confirms that entrepreneurship is thriving across the country not only in large business centres but also in the smaller communities as well,” said Kathleen O’Neill, Executive Vice-President, Business Banking, BMO Bank of Montreal.  “The fact that over 95 per cent of the almost one million businesses with payrolls operating in Canada are built and run by entrepreneurs is a continued reminder that the economic health of small business is crucial to the ongoing success of this country.”

The study found that, of the 25 CMAs studied (defined as metropolitan areas with populations of more than 100,000), Calgary emerged as Canada’s small business leader having the highest number of small businesses per capita (at 38.2 per 1000 population), as well as being the fastest growing business center in the country.   Since 1998, the number of small businesses in Calgary has increased by 13.1 per cent.  The next four fastest growing CMAs since 1998 were Edmonton (9.4 per cent growth), Oshawa (8.9 per cent growth), Ottawa-Hull (7.5 per cent growth) and Kitchener (6.8 per cent growth).

Of the 111 CAs with populations of at least 10,000, the fastest small business growth areas in the country since 1998 are Lloydminster, Alberta, (up 27 per cent), Barrie, Ontario, (up 19.2 per cent), Grande Prairie, Alberta, (up 17.4 per cent), and Collingwood, Ontario, (up 13.6 per cent).  Of these four, Grande Prairie and Lloydminster are also among the leaders in overall CA per capita rankings with 48.1 and 45.2 small business operations per 1000 population respectively.  Whitehorse is the overall CA leader in per capita number of businesses with 49.8 per 1000 residents.

The study also examined the market structure of industries across the country and finds that small businesses predominate in certain sectors.  For example, 99 per cent of businesses in the Agriculture, Forestry, Fishing, and Hunting sector have under 50 employees.  The Professional, Scientific, and Technical Services sector and the Construction sector also have a high degree of small businesses.  Not surprisingly, the lowest concentration of small businesses is found in the Public Administration, Utilities and Manufacturing sectors.

The full “In Search of Canada’s Small Business Hotbeds” study produced by the BMO Financial Group Economics Department is available at www.bmo.com/economic.

BMO Financial Group (NYSE, TSX: BMO) is one of the largest financial services providers in North America.  BMO serves clients across Canada and in the United States through its Canadian retail arm, BMO Bank of Montreal, through its Chicago-based Harris Bank, a major U.S. mid-west financial services organization, and through BMO Nesbitt Burns, one of Canada’s leading full-service investment firms.  BMO Financial Group is the second largest small business lender in Canada and one of the largest in North America.

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