82% of Canadians worry their favourite local businesses will disappear
by CM Staff
CFIB finds that Canadians are worrying what impact COVID-19 will have on local businesses
PHOTO: Wikimedia Commons
TORONTO — Four in five Canadians are worried their favourite local businesses may close down as a result of the pandemic, according to new public opinion research conducted by Maru/Matchbox for the Canadian Federation of Independent Business (CFIB)’s Small Business Recovery Dashboard.
The poll found:
82% of Canadians are worried that their favourite local businesses will close down
69% are concerned the economy is not recovering fast enough
76% believe we need to start focusing more on economic recovery
95% believe supporting small business is key to keeping our economy healthy
“We are in a pivotal moment for small business recovery. Canadians’ concern that some of their favourite businesses may close is not misplaced—CFIB’s research shows that Canada may lose 158,000 small businesses before the end of the pandemic, particularly as many continue to face dramatically lower sales,” said CFIB president Dan Kelly, in a prepared statement.
The latest bi-weekly data from CFIB’s Small Business Recovery Dashboard shows:
63% of small businesses are fully open
39% are fully staffed
26% are making normal sales
“Back in June, we saw that Canadians were starting to be more comfortable with eating at dine-in restaurants and going to their barbers or stylists for a haircut. Now, Canadians are realizing that a slow economic recovery will hurt their favourite local businesses and community as a whole,” said Kyle Davies, senior vice-president at Maru/Matchbox.
