THUNDER BAY – The vast majority of Thunder Bay business owners and entrepreneurs are confident their economic outlook will either improve or stay the same next year.
Of the 183 businesses that responded to Thunder Bay Ventures’ 2019 Business Confidence Index survey, 79 per cent said over the next 12 months they believe the Thunder Bay and area economy will be stable or better than it was during the past year.
Eighty-six per cent said their company’s well-being was either stable or better than it was a year ago and 92 per cent said they're confident their company will be stable economically or better off in the next 12 months.
Ninety-one per cent said they expect revenues to remain stable or increase, nine percentage points higher than the previous year.
However, only 62 per cent of respondents said they're confident in the city’s overall economic future, the majority of those answers coming after Bombardier’s July 10 announcement it was cutting 550 jobs.
The company is the city’s single largest private-sector employee.
Claudio Lento, an associate professor of accounting at Lakehead University and a co-author of the study, said the results are very positive.
He added there seems to be a disconnect between the chattering class on social media and the reality of where Thunder Bay and surrounding area is actually at, economically.
“Every community, including Thunder Bay, has its issues. But there is a lot of good news as well out there that’s not being promoted. And I think that good news, that’s not being promoted, is being captured in our results,” Lento said.
The survey also showed the top six issues facing Thunder Bay businesses remain unchanged from the 2017 survey.
They include the cost of doing business, a lack of qualified employees, weak economic conditions, a lack of leadership of government, excess government red tape and a poor work attitude of employees.
Taxes, the Internet economy and access to new markets are among the other concerns.
No question this is a problem, Lento said.
“That’s one thing I think we do need to work on and focus on,” he said. “The escalating cost of doing business, business owners will always be sensitive to that. So as costs are rising, they’ll be even more sensitive.
“I think what we need to do is think about moving forward, which groups in the community or which people would be best suited to tackle these and hopefully make some change. And when we re-measure this in the future, we can see if those numbers have come down.”
Martin Wyant, who recently took over as executive director at Thunder Bay Ventures, said the survey is a valuable tool for not just the businesses, but also organizations like the Thunder Bay Community Economic Development Commission and the Thunder Bay Chamber of Commerce.
It’s a possible path to a better economic future, he added.
“There are as many questions as there are answers in this report,” Wyant said.
The report, which carries a margin of error of plus or minus seven per cent, shows that currently more than half the respondents are mostly positive or neutral about Ontario government policies, but that number does drop below 42 per cent when looking forward.
Business owners are happy with the freezing of Ontario’s minimum wage at $14 an hour and the promise to pay down the provincial debt. But they’re concerned about program cuts and potentially instability brought about by government policy.
The survey has yet to be publicly released.
