Quick facts about Canada's small-business community
- There are more than one million small businesses and about 2.7 million self-employed Canadians
- 98 per cent of Canadian businesses have less than 100 employees
- In 2009, small businesses alone employed about five million people
- About 16 per cent of working Canadians were self-employed that year
- Small businesses are major employers in industries that include retail, construction, accommodation, food, health care, forestry
- About 47 per cent of all small and medium-sized enterprises include “some degree” of female ownership, but only 17 per cent of those SMEs are majority-owned by women
- About 87 per cent of exporters are small businesses
Sources: Industry Canada, Statistics Canada, University of Ottawa, Business Development Bank of Canada
Rita Trichur