Inaugural business barometer highlights mixed opinions
Canada’s business leaders are not unanimous on the state of the economy and some of the key economic and business issues.
The first FP500/Forum Research Business Barometer from Forum Research polled 48 randomly-selected FP500 business leaders follows a recent PwC poll which highlighted concerns among Canadian CEOs.
and found that about half say they have confidence in the current state of Canada's economy, but only about 1 in 10 (8%) are very confident. Half said they were not confident in the current state of Canada's economy, but only about 1 in 10 (10%) have no confidence at all.
“Confidence in the economy is divided, amongst business leaders,” said Dr. Lorne Bozinoff, President of Forum Research. “Half are confident, but half are not; however, the plurality expects their business to grow over the next six months, and a similar proportion expects business to remain the same.”
USMCA or NAFTA?
On key issues such as the USMCA, there is also division with 39% saying that the effects would be positive and 36% seeing a negative impact. However, when asked if the new deal is better than NAFTA, 50% said it was not and just 5% felt USMCA would be better.
Despite the uncertainty over the trade deal, 70% of the business leaders polled felt that the US is a reliable trading partner with just 20% saying it was not, at least right now.
4 in 10 (41%) say they expect their business to grow over the next six months, while 43% expect it to stay the same and 14% expecting it to contract.
Emerging technologies are seen as disruptive by 71% and very disruptive by 31%, although 90% say that emerging technologies such as artificial intelligence and automation will be useful in their line of business, with 4 in 10 (40%) saying they will be very useful.
Half of Canadian executives say old NAFTA better for our economy than USMCA https://t.co/VuWATggmYF
— Financial Post (@financialpost) February 22, 2019
