By Pepper Parr
April 15th, 2026
BURLINGTON, ON
A recent survey done by Ignite Digital, a digital marketing agency, gives a glimpse of how the Small Business sector is dealing with a very wobbly economy. 600 Canadian small business owners found that it’s even worse than we thought, and many are in the battle of their lives.
Nationally, asked if they ‘believe their business will survive long enough to sell so they can retire,’ a combined (73.17%) Canadian SMBs showed a clear crisis of confidence with 21.50% saying ‘no,’ 20.00% saying ‘kinda,’ 16.00% saying ‘I have no idea,’ and 15.67% saying ‘I really hope so.’
Canadian SMBs are fighting for their lives:
Nationally, when asked how many months they could survive ‘if business dropped by 25% tomorrow,’ nearly a third of Canadian small business owners soberly said 3-5 months (30.17%), 21.00% said 6-11 months. 11.17% admitted that ‘they can’t even think about it!’ and 6.5% sadly said ‘less than one month.’
Regrets … They’ve had a few:
Bluntly asked if they regretted starting/buying their business, a combined 45.84% of national Canadian SMB owners said yes, with 38.17% saying ‘sometimes,’ 5.17% saying ‘often,’ and 2.5% saying ‘constantly.’”
There is more information on the survey HERE.
Other B.S. beating down SMBs:
It is going to take more than promotional advertising to improve Small Business growth.
Nationally, Canadian SMB owners say their biggest business beefs are currently:
Rising costs like (rent, inputs and shipping) (63.67%)
Cash flow week-to-week (38.33%)
Tariffs – (USA actions) (37.67%)
Taxes/compliance burdens (31.17%)
Customer demand falling (26.33%)
Getting paid late/bad clients (26.00%)
Finding/keeping staff (24.33%)
NOT made in the USA …
Nationally, finding non-USA suppliers has cost Canadian small business owners serious money this year! A combined 60.17% of SMBs report that it costs them significant money (34.67%), or ‘kinda’ costs them significant money (24.89%).
The customer (isn’t) always right …
Nationally, which client behaviour is the most damaging to their businesses? Canadian SMB owners said: Late payments (43.17%), unrealistic timelines (36.83%), abuse/harassment of staff (32.00%), chargebacks/disputes (31.17%), and slow decision making (27.00%).
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MGR did the three wise presumably Liberal MPs accept responsibility and offer concrete plans to improve the situation?
It will need to get much worse before liberal voters wake up unfortunately. I think the psychology is like a version of the Stockholm syndrome.
The retail landscape looks different in Burlington. We can already see the affects of shops and big box stores closing down.
We all know the collective reasons why.
3 MPs at an event I attended said it seems like Canada
Is being dismantled piece by piece. We can all see the erosion
Of various systems.
Thank your liberal federal and liberal provincial governments who are largely responsible.