Director of Policy and Government Relations, Margot Orr, says the results of the 2023 Saskatoon Business Barometer were ultimately positive. “We are pleased to see that the business confidence sentiment across most sectors remains stable, with businesses still citing some definite challenges to growth,” she stated. Those challenges include inflation concerns, labour supply, and from a new survey question included this year…crime.

Orr says a high percentage of those surveyed had to increase their costs due to repairing damage from vandalism and the purchase of added security measures. She attributes this to the ongoing increase of homelessness across the city.

The results also indicated that business owners had a hard time connecting with all levels of government in 2023. “The top was the federal government. Forty-one per cent of respondents indicated a worsening experience in connecting with the federal government compared to 24 per cent of respondents in 2022. Same trend provincially: 26 per cent cited more difficulty compared to 13 per cent in 2022.” Municipally, 35 per cent of respondents reported that same difficulty compared to 18 per cent in 2022. The topics that those surveyed were referring to include complicated bureaucratic processes, being unable to talk directly to elected officials, and increased wait-times for permits.

Compared to last year, Orr says labour supply came in at number one as the top concern for business growth. However, this year, it came down to number two and inflation has taken its place as the number one concern. Despite these findings, Orr says businesses still have a positive outlook for 2024.