Ontario lags behind rest of country in percentage of businesses open

Now that the number of COVID-19 cases have been declining, many Provinces have begun to reopen certain businesses.

A recent report from the Canadian Federation of Independent Business (CFIB) has found that nearly a third of Canadian businesses are now fully open, which is up from just 21 per cent a month ago.

According to the findings, Alberta, New Brunswick, and Manitoba lead the way in terms of the percentage of businesses open with 47, 44, and 44 per cent respectively.

Conversely, Ontario is near the bottom with 26 per cent—only Newfoundland and Labrador have fewer businesses open (22 per cent).

“It’s good to see that the share of businesses fully open is finally larger than businesses fully closed due to COVID-19,” Dan Kelly, president of CFIB, said in a news release.

At this time, retail, arts and recreation, services and restaurants/hospitality businesses are least likely to be fully open.

Additionally, the most common reasons businesses have yet to reopen are they have not yet been permitted to do so—49 per cent, current sales are too low to justify reopening—36 per cent, and safety concerns regarding the health and safety of staff and customers aren’t worth the risk of opening—35 per cent.

Further, 36 per cent of business owners are concerned about the inability to access Personal Protective Equipment, and 26 per cent are concerned they may need to shut their doors permanently.