Many Canadians have bought some lumber or kitchen and bathroom accessories at Home Depot over the years. The company, which opened its first stores just outside of Atlanta, Georgia in 1978, has grown into what is today the world’s largest improvement retailer with approximately 2,300 stores throughout North America.

A few weeks ago, one of the co-founders of Home Depot said that if he were to start his company all over again in today’s suffocating business environment, he doubts whether it could have ever grown any larger in size than around 15 stores.

I’ve often wondered myself if I were to start Magna all over again today, instead of more than 50 years ago, would I have been able to grow the auto parts company as quickly as I did with all the chains we put on small business nowadays? I highly doubt it. How many other future multinational success stories like Four Seasons, OpenText or Shopify are being choked and snuffed out by the never-ending regulations and restrictions we impose on small business startups?

That should be alarming to all Canadians, regardless of whether or not they own and operate a small business. Here’s why:

According to a Statistics Canada survey published in March of last year, small businesses accounted for 98 per cent of all employer businesses in Canada. In addition, small businesses employed nearly two-thirds of Canada’s labour force, whereas large businesses only accounted for 15 per cent of the national workforce. When it comes to job creation, small business matters.

But a number of recent studies show that these small businesses, which play a major role in the health and growth of the Canadian economy, are struggling like never before. The Statistics Canada survey mentioned earlier showed that the current prospects for small businesses are pretty grim: these businesses report that they are more likely to face cash flow problems and less likely to have the cash or liquid assets required to continue operating.

That’s not surprising considering that small businesses bore the brunt of the burdens during the pandemic. According to a report published by the Canadian Federation of Independent Business (CFIB) last summer, 54 per cent of Canada’s small businesses are still reporting below-normal revenues and 62 per cent are still carrying unpaid debt taken on during the pandemic. Most worrisome of all, nearly one in five small businesses is considering bankruptcy or permanent closure.

It begs the question: who is looking out for small business? Their needs and concerns often get brushed aside by governments that cater to big business, which has far greater financial muscle and lobbying clout. But with so much of our economic fortunes riding on the success of our small businesses, it’s a wonder that so little effort is being made to help them bounce back and thrive.

Owning and operating a business is a lot of sweat, toil and sacrifice. The financial rewards for starting a business should be enough to compensate for the effort, or else who in their right mind would give up the security of a good job, forfeit weekends and weeknights and holidays, and risk personal assets just so they can put up an “Open for Business” sign knowing that three out of ten small businesses will not survive past five years.

I spent most of my business career managing large multinational companies, but in all those years I never forgot how I started out as a small business owner, how I constantly worried about meeting my payroll and drumming up new clients to pay the bills.

In the past several years I’ve opened a few small businesses, and I’ve really gotten a taste of how frustrating it can be and how many unnecessary hurdles small business owners face.

It’s no wonder so many small businesses today are thinking of throwing in the towel and closing up shop. That’s a shame — and it doesn’t have to be that way.

For several years now, I’ve argued that small businesses in Canada should be exempt from paying business income tax — a policy measure that would revive our small business sector. Removing the corporate tax on small business would ignite widespread economic growth and create more new jobs than any other measure we could adopt.

At the same time, we need to remove the regulatory burden placed on small business. Doing so would allow smaller businesses and start-up companies to save valuable time and money that now gets eaten up by regulatory compliance.

We need more small businesses — and we need them focused on providing products and services, not regulatory compliance. Removing the taxes and red tape that are holding them back would unleash the kind of economic growth Canada needs right now.

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