Business owners investing in equipment, employees: Study
August 4, 2010 by Adil Virani
Filed under Latest News, Latest Rates, Mortgage FAQ, Recent News
Julie Fortier, Financial Post · Wednesday, Aug. 4, 2010
OTTAWA — More than three-quarters of Canadian business owners feel an economic recovery is underway and 80 per cent say they are actively boosting productivity by investing in their business, according to a study released Wednesday by the Bank of Montreal.
“Canadian business spending on new equipment and machinery has increased since the fall, which is a step in the right direction,” Gail Cocker, senior vice-president of commercial banking at BMO said in a release. “This, combined with a move to increase training for employees and seize opportunities to boost productivity will help strengthen the competitive position for Canadian businesses at home and abroad.”
Nearly 90 per cent of businesses in Manitoba and Saskatchewan, 80 per cent in Ontario and 79 per cent in Western Canada said they are feeling the economic recovery. On the lower end, 77 per cent of respondents in the Atlantic provinces and just 59 per cent in Quebec felt the same.
“In terms of productivity, we are finally starting to see some improvement,” said Sal Guatieri, senior economist of BMO Capital Markets. “Overall, businesses have taken advantage of cheaper imported equipment —_courtesy of the strong loonie — to boost competitiveness.”
The survey of 427 Canadian businesses with 50 to 499 employees and revenues of $5 million to $75 million annually was conducted in May.
Productivity, or how much an economy produces per hour of work, has been relatively flat at 0.7 per cent annually in Canada for almost a decade. In June, a report from Toronto-Dominion Bank said boosting Canadian productivity must remain the top priority among policy-makers or else Canada risks lower GDP growth and loss of competitiveness.