October 16, 2009, Toronto – A new report from BMO reveals that the growth in the number of small businesses is strongest in Canadian "hotbeds": Ontario's Greater Golden Horseshoe region, B.C.'s lower mainland and southern Vancouver Island and Alberta's Calgary-Edmonton corridor.
The report, Canada's Small Business Juggernaut, by BMO chief economist Dr. Sherry Cooper, assesses the strength of small business formations in communities across Canada; it identifies the small business hotbeds among the country's 33 largest cities and measures small business intensity in those centres and the nation's 111 small cities. Dr. Cooper's report, a post-recession perspective of this vital segment of Canada's economy, offers an optimistic prognosis for Canadian entrepreneurs.
BMO Economics examined the latest data to assess the intensity of small business activity in communities across Canada, by ranking the number of small business enterprises per one thousand population. This was done for large centres by looking at each of the 33 Canadian census metropolitan areas (CMAs), and for small centres by examining each of the 111 Canadian census agglomerations (CAs).
The study reviews the five-year growth figures for small businesses in the 33 CMAs. The report identified Hotbed growth areas in three regions: Ontario's greater golden Horseshoe region (Toronto, Guelph, Oshawa, and Barrie); Alberta's Calgary-Edmonton corridor; and, British Columbia's lower mainland and southern Vancouver Island (Vancouver, Abbotsford, and Victoria).
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