With small and medium entreprises (SMEs) employing 53 per cent of the country's working population, it's clear that SMEs, whether located in urban or rural areas, play a critical role in Canada's economic growth and social well-being. The following list, compiled from research conducted by the Canadian Federation of Independent Businesses (CFIB), represents the top 10 entrepreneurial cities in Canada.
"There is no single best way to measure the entrepreneurship quotient of cities," according to the report, so the CFIB uses a range of approaches to arrive at an overall score out of 100. Some of these indicators include the presence of a high concentration of entrepreneurs, high business start-up rate, high levels of optimism and success in their operations and good public policy.
| Rank | City | Percentage |
| 1 | Grande Prairie (Alta.) | 73.1% |
| 2 | Lloydminster (Alta./Sask.) | 72.0% |
| 3 | Saskatoon (Sask.) | 63.5% |
| 4 | Prince Albert (Sask.) | 61.9% |
| 5 | Kelowna (B.C.) | 61.4% |
| 6 | Edmonton (Alta.) | 61.1% |
| 7 | Red Deer (Alta.) | 60.0% |
| 8 | Parksville (B.C.) | 59.8% |
| 9 | Saint-Georges (Que.) | 59.7% |
| 10 | Wood Buffalo (Alta.) | 59.3% |
— CFIB assembled 12 indicators. Drawing from published and custom tabulated Statistics Canada sources, the index also contains direct perspectives from CFIB's membership, which numbers more than 107,000 business owners across Canada.
