Amid Alberta’s election campaign, small businesses say they’re the canaries in the coal mine — and things aren’t going well

The Alberta election on April 16 is top of mind for Terry Steinkey, co-owner of Map Town in downtown Calgary. Like many small businesses in Alberta, the travel store has struggled since prices for Western Canada Select crude oil plummeted to about US$30 per barrel in 2015, pushing the provincial economy deep into recession.

Small-business owners in Alberta are all too aware that the oil and gas sector is the largest driver of the provincial economy and nearly 90 per cent say the sector is critical for the health of their own business, whatever industry they’re in, according to a survey by the Canadian Federation of Independent Business , Canada’s largest non-profit organization supporting and advocating for small business.

“When times are tough, big oil and gas companies have latitude to cut back operations, lay off staff, reduce their footprint. Small business owners do not,” said Richard Truscott, CFIB’s vice-president for Alberta and British Columbia, from his office in Calgary. “They need to hold on to their people because they know when the economy picks up, it’s hard to find qualified people. They have to try to see their way through it.

“The revenue lost from those commercial spaces will have to be made up by business owners outside the core and they are now facing a property tax increase of 10 per cent or more,” Truscott said. It’s a dynamic Steinkey is experiencing firsthand. Fewer people are coming into the store and retail sales are down between 20 and 25 per cent over the past four years.

The combination of Trudeau and Notley has been poisonous for Albertans.

Business Business Latest News, Business Business Headlines

Similar News:You can also read news stories similar to this one that we have collected from other news sources.

Global growth outlook ‘precarious’ amid rising trade tensions, IMF’s Lagarde saysLagarde said the global economy is ‘unsettled’ after two years of steady growth, with the outlook vulnerable to trade, Brexit and financial market shocks globebusiness She isn't in jail? I thought there was some big scandal a couple of years ago - so she got away with that? globebusiness I can't recall over the last 15 years when Mdm Legarde was optimistic about the global economy.... I suppose its her overly cautious nature.. but she is the Phoenix Suns of being correct on those observations she makes.
Source: globeandmail - 🏆 5. / 92 Read more »

SNC-Lavalin reshuffles leadership ranks, restructures amid poor performanceAmid the political furor dominating news headlines, SNC has been suffering through its own, separate business drama Surprise, surprise as Gomer would say. How will this affect the yields on Canadians that invest in a corrupt corporation? Quebec Pension plans is just one investor. Eh ? Can't they just lobby the government to force Canadians to give them $$$?
Source: nationalpost - 🏆 10. / 80 Read more »

AIG exits Canadian property and casualty insurance market amid industry shakeoutThe Toronto-based division of American International Group Inc., one of the world’s 20 largest insurers, decided earlier this year to shut down a home and auto insurance business that catered to wealthy Canadian clients
Source: globeandmail - 🏆 5. / 92 Read more »