Bureaucracy named top problem when doing business in Canada: report

Government inefficiency and an environment not conducive to innovation are among the top issues Canadian executives view as barriers to doing business here, according to new research from the Conference Board of Canada.

Generally, Canada is a good place to conduct business, according to the briefing, which is based on data from the World Economic Forum’s executive opinion survey.

Among the top five problematic factors for doing business, “relatively few” Canadian business leaders identified each one as an issue, although the responses “point to potential areas for improvement that could enhance business performance and competitiveness,” the report notes.

Of those included in the survey, 16.4% said inefficient government bureaucracy was a problematic business issue, placing it in the top ranked spot for Canadians.

That was followed by insufficient capacity to innovate, access to financing, an inadequately educated workforce and tax rates.

Tax rates took the top spot among peer countries in the survey, the Conference Board also notes, although government inefficiency did rank No. 2 in Italy and Switzerland.

“Canada’s business leaders may feel government inefficiency is a problem because of the country’s federal/provincial/territorial (FPT) governments, which create multiple layers of regulation, making regulatory compliance more complicated and expensive for businesses,” the briefing says.

Differing regulatory requirements among those levels of government can make compliance more expensive for businesses, it says, although it adds that some efforts to streamline processes are underway.