October 2022 Business Barometer - Canadian Federation of Independent Business (CFIB)

Canada's small business confidence took a nose-dive over the short and long-term in October.

CFIB’s Business Barometer® short-term index, based on 3-month forward expectations for business performance, dropped another three points to 46.4. The long-term optimism index, which is based on a 12-month outlook, reached 51.4, which is a level slightly below the one registered in May 2020, at the end of the first set of restrictions.

Provincial Outlook
The provincial outlook is very mitigated. Over the next 3-4 months, some gains in optimism are seen in Saskatchewan, Newfoundland and Labrador, and Alberta, while Ontario and Quebec are registering fairly large declines in their outlooks (5.9 and 2.4 points respectively).

Long-term optimism is also mirroring the same trend – Ontario and Quebec reported the largest fall in confidence at 4.3 and 2.3 points below their previous month’s levels.

This is an excerpt from the CFIB’s report.