Only 34 per cent of entrepreneurs across Alberta are confident their municipal government has a vision that supports small business
CALGARY, December 11, 2014 – As mayors and councils across the province finalize their budgets, the Canadian Federation of Independent Business (CFIB) today released new survey results that show Alberta’s local elected officials face a major challenge in winning over entrepreneurs.
“Mayors and councils need to show more leadership on small business issues and focus on the meat and potato issues of taxes, spending, and red tape. Clearly, they still have a lot of work to do to win over the hearts and minds of local entrepreneurs”, says Richard Truscott, CFIB Director for Alberta.
Business owners were asked: How confident are you that your municipal government has a vision that supports small business? Across Alberta, only 34 percent said they were confident. Conversely, 62 per cent said they were not confident. Four percent said they didn’t know/not sure (see Table 1).
While the Edmonton results on the same question were slightly worse than the overall provincial numbers, the results for Calgary were noticeably worse. Only 23 per cent said they were confident their municipal government has a vision that supports small business, while 74 per cent said they were not confident, including 40 per cent who were not confident at all. Three per cent said don’t know/not sure.
Table 1:
|
|
Very confident |
Somewhat confident |
Not very confident |
Not confident at all |
Don’t know/not sure |
| Alberta |
3 |
31 |
36 |
26 |
4 |
| Edmonton |
3 |
27 |
29 |
22 |
7 |
| Calgary |
1 |
22 |
34 |
40 |
3 |
The results were more favorable for municipal governments when business owners were asked: How likely are you to recommend starting a business in your municipality? In terms of all respondents, 67 percent said they would, while 33 per cent said they would not. The results were similar for Calgary and Edmonton (see Table 2)
Table 2:
|
|
Very likely |
Somewhat likely |
Not very likely |
Not likely at all |
| Alberta |
19 |
48 |
25 |
8 |
| Edmonton |
20 |
50 |
25 |
5 |
| Calgary |
17 |
50 |
22 |
11 |
Finally, business owners were asked to agree or disagree with the following statement: My mayor understands the realities of running a small business. Across the entire province, 26 per cent said yes, 46 per cent said no, and 28 per cent said don’t know/not sure. The results for Edmonton were similar, as 24 per cent said yes, 36 per cent said no, and 40 per cent said don’t know/not sure (see Table 3). However, in Calgary the results were considerably different: only 16 per cent said yes, 63 per cent said no, and 21 per cent said don’t know/not sure.
Table 3
|
|
Yes |
No |
Don’t know/not sure |
| Alberta |
26 |
46 |
28 |
| Edmonton |
24 |
36 |
40 |
| Calgary |
16 |
63 |
21 |
The web-based, controlled-access member survey was conducted between July 28 and August 29, 2014. There were 961 respondents.
As Canada’s largest association of small- and medium-sized businesses, CFIB is Powered by Entrepreneurs™. Established in 1971, CFIB takes direction from more than 109,000 members in every sector nationwide, including 10,000 in Alberta, giving independent business a strong and influential voice at all levels of government and helping to grow the economy.