Business still bullish in Ottawa
Owners are among most optimistic in Canada
ottawacitizen.com
Kristin Goff
The Ottawa Citizen
Dennis Leung, The Ottawa Citizen / Busineses anticipating stronger performance in 2001; Busineses anticipating an increase in full-time employees in 2001; Ottawa business performance expectations; Ottawa business expectations for Canadian economy
Volatile tech stocks and recession fears be damned. Ottawa's small business owners are quite likely the most optimistic folks in Canada.
That's the finding of the Canadian Federation of Independent Business, which found that more than two out of three Ottawa small business owners expect their businesses to perform better this year than last year.
It's worth noting that last year, Ottawa produced one of the most optimistic readings in the country as it headed into a year of very robust growth, said Garth Whyte, senior vice-president of organization for small and medium-sized businesses.
"This year we've gone even further," Mr. Whyte said.
"We've blown the doors off last year in terms of optimism for their own business performance."
The Ottawa survey results, released yesterday, were culled from data collected in a cross-country survey which the federation conducted last fall.
The results from Ottawa's 230-person sample showed 68.7 per cent of those surveyed expect their businesses to do better this year than last, while 28.3 per cent expect stable conditions and only three per cent expect weaker conditions.
At least as impressive are hiring plans, which show more than half of all small and medium-sized businesses surveyed plan to add full-time employees this year.
Nationally and provincially, only 34.6 per cent and 36.6 per cent respectively had the same plans.
The national results, based on more than 1,100 interviews, were released last month and showed that 52.7 per cent of business owners expected their companies' performance to improve and 39 per cent expected no change in 2001. The balance expected weaker performance.
Ontario showed up as the most optimistic of the provinces in that survey, with 57.3 per cent of people expecting business improvement.
The survey which was done between Oct. 27 and Nov. 26 last year, was at a time when technology stocks where sliding but hadn't reached their low for the year.
Still, Mr. Whyte said he thinks the differences from Ottawa would not be great if the survey were redone today.
"The fluctuations in the high tech sector may have damped people's optimism a little bit, but not a lot," said Mr. Whyte. "They have their own (business) plans, their own bottom line."
Since the Canadian Federation of Independent Business only examines results from cities that have a large enough sample in their national survey, Mr. Whyte can't say with certainty if Ottawa business owners are the most optimistic of any city in Canada, although they are the most optimistic in top-ranking Ontario.
Ottawa business owners and managers were more optimistic than most in Canada, a year ago when they were asked to look ahead into 2000.
Back in the fall of 1999, almost 58 per cent expected business improvement.
What followed was an extraordinary year of growth for Ottawa which the Conference Board of Canada estimates made it the fastest growing urban centre in the country.
Despite a record breaking more than $1 billion worth in new construction last year the demands for growth still left it with the lowest commercial and residential vacancy rates in Canada.
The Ottawa survey results are considered reliable to within five to six per cent, 19 times out of 20. |
