Canadian business leaders are in the throes of major economic uncertainty and want the federal government to prioritize its approach to foreign and domestic trade,
Léger survey conducted exclusively for Financial Post.
The senior business leaders surveyed identified trade diversification outside of the U.S. as the top priority for the government (36 per cent of respondents), followed by reducing
barriers (33 per cent) and agenda items like
and relief (29 per cent).
Andrew Enns, executive vice-president of Léger’s Central Canada operations, said Canadian businesses could be hoping these measures boost productivity and “take the edge off” a potential recession. The data also reflected how Canadian businesses have changed their views of the U.S. as a reliable trading partner, Enns said.
The poll findings revealed 86 per cent of senior business leaders were concerned about inflation and 87 per cent about a potential recession — high numbers, but not significantly different from Léger’s
last poll, which was conducted in March.
Canadian businesses are in “a bit of a holding pattern,” said Enns. “There’s just really no consensus around where things are going to go.”
They’re still taking, or considering taking, steps to manage their costs, such as cutting back on spending (68 per cent), buying or investing more in Canada (64 per cent) and looking for alternatives to American suppliers and clients (63 per cent).
There was an increase in those considering or actually postponing new hirings (58 per cent, compared to 54 per cent in March) and laying off existing staff (36 per cent compared to 28 per cent). The May poll also said 42 per cent of business leaders were looking at reducing or had reduced or re-evaluated employee benefits and compensation packages.
“The uncertainty for businesses is really challenging from an operational standpoint,” said Enns, adding that these measures don’t bode well for Canadians looking for work right now. The unemployment rate ticked up to 6.9 per cent in April, returning to November’s high, according to the latest data from Statistics Canada.
The Léger poll said 38 per cent of senior business leaders had no idea what will happen with
imposed on Canada. Another 23 per cent said they expected the U.S. to remove all, or nearly all, tariffs on Canada in the coming weeks, while 19 per cent said they believed tariffs could remain in place for a year or more. Seventeen per cent felt even more tariffs could be coming.
However, Enns thinks most business leaders are “cautiously optimistic” about the new government.
More than half of business leaders (55 per cent) said they trusted
to manage the Canada–U.S. relationship and defend the country against the political and financial decisions of
“Mr. Carney’s resume with managing the economic crisis in 2008–2009, as well as his pedigree in terms of the
and Bank of England, probably provided a greater measure of comfort,” Enns said. “And I would also say that, for business leaders, where certainty and stability is really critical for operations, Mr. Carney might have presented a more stable transition from the Trudeau government.”
About 63 per cent of senior business leaders reported satisfaction with the election outcome.
That said, Enns noted only 55 per cent of business leaders in Western Canada were satisfied with the election results (compared to over 70 per cent of respondents in Eastern Canada), pointing to strong dissatisfaction from Albertans who want more progress made on Canada’s energy sector.
The survey was conducted between Apr. 29 and May 5 among 201 members of the LEO Decision panel, a proprietary group of Canadian business leaders, established by Léger in collaboration with HEC Montreal.
• Email: slouis@postmedia.com
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