Canada’s Entrepreneur

The Struggle for Success, a look at the barriers faced by newcomers - Newscast Calgary-Canada's Podcast

In this interview, Alicia Planincic, Economist & Manager of Policy, Business Council of Alberta, discusses a new report that shows the success of immigrants is vital to Canada's prosperity but their potential is too often unrealized due to common barriers.
PRESS RELEASE

New report shows the success of immigrants is vital to Canada’s prosperity, yet their potential is too often unrealized due to common barriers
CALGARY, ALBERTA; Economic immigration can do many amazing things for the Canadian economy, but only if we do it right. That means planning our systems to bring in people with the right skills our economy needs and providing newcomers with the supports they need to succeed. Today, the Business Council of Alberta released its latest research paper;The Struggle for Success which identifies five common barriers that many newcomers to Canada face after arriving; developed through consultation with newcomer serving agencies, businesses, and newcomers themselves. The paper also provides preliminary policy considerations to begin addressing these issues.

The paper highlights two fundamental barriers to newcomers’ success:

    Official language proficiency—this is one of the biggest barriers for newcomers. Language learning services are not always accessible or able to keep up with growing demand.
    Connection to available settlement services—while Canada has a comprehensive network of services, many do not know about them. Less than 40% of newcomers access settlement services within their first year of receiving their Permanent Residency. While not all require them, others do.

And three that more specifically interfere with their success in the labour market:

    Access to a personal and professional support system—newcomers often have limited support systems in Canada, which makes navigating a new city and country such as finding a job, a place to live, or even a school for their children more difficult.
    Discrimination in the labour market—newcomers often face negative bias when entering the job market. These might include having foreign experience; “second-language accents”; or even “foreign-sounding names.”
    Recognition of foreign education, experience, and credentials—newcomers in regulated professions can often find that they require additional education or training to be able to practice their profession in Canada, and often the door can be nearly shut altogether.

“Supporting newcomers learning an official language should be job number one—nothing supercharges social and economic integration like language skills, and conversely our research showed that a lack of those skills can often be the most significant roadblock to newcomer success,” says Adam Legge, President of the Business Council of Alberta. “Right now, we are not matching language training funding to the number of immigrants, and that is not optimal for the country or newcomers themselves.”

Preliminary policy considerations to address these barriers include:

    Adequately funding language training to the scale of newcomers: As Canada is set to welcome more newcomers than ever before over the next few years, the capacity of language programs will need to respond to this expected increase in demand.
    Improving connections to and awareness of the available services: As few as 8% of newcomers may learn about available services at a government office upon landing. The Calgary Gateway program offers a positive model for potential improvement.
    Better, faster, and more predictable credential recognition: Learning from the success of policies like the Alberta Labour Mobility Act, as well as encouraging regulatory bodies to identify specific training gaps, and standardized competency testing.

This is the fifth paper in the Council’s series on Canadian immigration. The next paper, which explores the potential unintended consequences of rapid population growth, will be released later this month. The Council has also stuck an expert task force to develop actionable policy recommendations to address the opportunities and barriers identified throughout this work.

The full paper is attached to this release and can be found at BusinessCouncilAB.com.

About the Business Council of Alberta. The Business Council of Alberta is a non-partisan, for-purpose organization dedicated to building a better Alberta within a more dynamic Canada. Composed of the chief executives and leading entrepreneurs of the province’s largest enterprises, Council members are proud to represent the majority of Alberta’s private sector investment, job creation, exports, and research and development. The Council is committed to working with leaders and stakeholders across Alberta and Canada in proposing bold and innovative public policy solutions and initiatives that will make life better for Albertans.

Mario Toneguzzi is Managing Editor of Canada’s Podcast. He has more than 40 years of experience as a daily newspaper writer, columnist, and editor. He was named in 2021 as one of the Top 10 Business Journalists in the World by PR News – the only Canadian to make the list

About Us

Canada’s Podcast is the number one podcast in Canada for entrepreneurs and business owners. Established in 2016, the podcast network has interviewed over 600 Canadian entrepreneurs from coast-to-coast.

With hosts in each province, entrepreneurs have a local and national format to tell their stories, talk about their journey and provide inspiration for anyone starting their entrepreneurial journey and well- established founders.

The commitment to a grass roots approach has built a loyal audience on all our social channels and YouTube – 500,000+ lifetime YouTube views, 200,000 + audio downloads, 35,000 + average monthly social impressions, 10,000 + engaged social followers and 35,000 newsletter subscribers. Canada’s Podcast is proud to provide a local, national and international presence for Canadian entrepreneurs to build their brand and tell their story.

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Infinitely more important is your determination and your persistence - Ontario, Canada’s Podcast

"Just listen to people, no matter what consider it, you may not actually apply it, but make sure you're actually listening."

Seif El-Sahly is a P. Eng., Director of Newfore Inc. but he is also a Dreamer, Renovator and Crushing Expectations! He turns drawings into reality with a dose of humour and a Top 40 Under 40 ranking. He is the force behind Tiny Homes - Garage Edition. A self-pronounced workaholic, when not at the office, he's on the hunt for abandoned real estate that can be turned into luxurious rentals in great neighbourhoods. https://www.instagram.com/newforeinc/

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Inspiring people to take action in designing their own lives - Edmonton - Canada’s Podcast

Gail Taylor is a Canadian songwriter, keynote speaker, entrepreneur, and passionate advocate for the power of music to inspire change. Her catalog of 13 published songs draws from her life experiences and imparts invaluable messages, taking centre stage in her speaking engagements.

For the past 35 years, Gail has stood on stage and spoken about finance and socially responsible investing. Her journey began in the business world, where she honed her skills and expertise.

Gail attained her CIMA designation (Certified Investment Manager Analyst) from Wharton University, acquired her MBA at Queen's University, and underwent executive training at Harvard Business School, all while building a successful Investment Advisory practice.

In the late 70's, she embarked on a parallel journey, one dedicated to personal betterment and the art of setting and achieving goals. She is currently penning her second book – Curve Balls – personal stories and tools to inspire folks to take action in designing their own lives.

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Entrepreneurs are the backbone of Canada’s economy. To support Canada’s businesses, subscribe to our YouTube channel and follow us on Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn and Twitter.

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Small Business Opposition to the Federal Carbon Tax Grows Significantly - Newscast, Canada’s Podcast

In this interview, Dan Kelly, President of the Canadian Federation of Independent Business, discusses the growing opposition to the federal carbon tax and how it is impacting small business across the country.

PRESS RELEASE

Toronto, November 8, 2023 – A strong majority of businesses (85%) now oppose the federal carbon tax (the fuel charge) and want it to be scrapped, according to new data from the Canadian Federation of Independent Business (CFIB). The recent announcement by the federal government that it will exempt only one type of heating fuel—heating oil—from the carbon tax is just the latest example of how unfair the tax has been to small businesses. Opposition to the carbon tax among small firms is up from an earlier reading of 52% taken only one year ago.

“Small businesses have been raising their concerns with the carbon tax for years. They pay about 40% of the costs of the carbon tax, but the federal government has promised to return only 10% to small businesses,” said Dan Kelly, CFIB President. “Making matters worse, it appears most small firms will be ineligible for the Federal Fuel Charge Proceeds Return Program, if the federal government ever gets around to creating the program that was promised to deliver $2.5 billion collected since 2019 to small businesses and Indigenous groups.”

“Now the government is choosing to help some Canadians with their heating costs by exempting them from the carbon tax, while leaving the majority out. CFIB is concerned that the recently announced enhancement to the rural top-up to Climate Action Incentive payments will be funded by reducing the small sliver of carbon tax revenue that is current earmarked to be returned to small business. The entire federal carbon tax structure is beginning to look like a shell game,” Kelly added.

“With rising costs on everything from supplies to fuel to taxes and the Canada Emergency Business Account (CEBA) loan repayment deadline fast approaching, small businesses are in a precarious financial position. The government could alleviate some of the pressure by releasing the carbon tax revenues it has already collected from businesses and committing to several important changes,” Kelly added.

CFIB is asking the federal government to overhaul the carbon tax system by:

Expanding the carbon tax exemption to all forms of heating fuels, including natural gas and other sources used by small business.
Halting future carbon tax increases, including the hike planned on April 1, 2024.
Immediately returning all promised funds to all small businesses that paid into the tax.
Ensuring businesses are eligible for rebates or refunds equivalent to the full share of the fuel charge costs they incur (CFIB estimates 40%).

Supporting the passing of Bill C-234 at third reading in the Senate rapidly without any amendments.
“Small businesses have been waiting for a meaningful effort from government to return the carbon tax revenues it promised them since the tax was introduced. They have seen consumers and big businesses benefit from rebates and grants, while they were left in the cold,” Kelly concluded. “If the government can’t fix the carbon backstop system now, it’s time to scrap it and look for other ways to address climate change.”

About CFIB

The Canadian Federation of Independent Business (CFIB) is Canada’s largest association of small and medium-sized businesses with 97,000 members across every industry and region. CFIB is dedicated to increasing business owners’ chances of success by driving policy change at all levels of government, providing expert advice and tools, and negotiating exclusive savings. Learn more at cfib.ca

Mario Toneguzzi is Managing Editor of Canada’s Podcast. He has more than 40 years of experience as a daily newspaper writer, columnist, and editor. He was named in 2021 as one of the Top 10 Business Journalists in the World by PR News – the only Canadian to make the list)

About Us

Canada’s Podcast is the number one podcast in Canada for entrepreneurs and business owners. Established in 2016, the podcast network has interviewed over 600 Canadian entrepreneurs from coast-to-coast.

With hosts in each province, entrepreneurs have a local and national format to tell their stories, talk about their journey and provide inspiration for anyone starting their entrepreneurial journey and well- established founders.

The commitment to a grass roots approach has built a loyal audience on all our social channels and YouTube – 500,000+ lifetime YouTube views, 200,000 + audio downloads, 35,000 + average monthly social impressions, 10,000 + engaged social followers and 35,000 newsletter subscribers. Canada’s Podcast is proud to provide a local, national and international presence for Canadian entrepreneurs to build their brand and tell their story.

businessCanadasNumberOnePodcast for Entrepreneurscarbon taxCFIBentrepreneursentrepreneurshipsmall business

Small Business increasingly Depend on Credit Cards - Newscast, Canada’s Podcast

In this interview, Simon Worsfold, Head of Data Communications, for Intuit QuickBooks, discusses a new report that indicates small business credit card spending is up 18 per cent. He talks about the reasons for the huge increase, the challenges faced by small businesses today, the impact on hiring, the rise of solopreneurs, the importance of access to capital and the impact small business has on the overall Canadian economy.

PRESS RELEASE

TORONTO–(BUSINESS WIRE)–Intuit (NASDAQ: INTU), the global financial technology platform that makes Intuit TurboTax, Credit Karma, QuickBooks, and Mailchimp, has released the 2023 Intuit QuickBooks Small Business Index Annual Report. Developed in collaboration with leading global economist Professor Ufuk Akcigit and his co-authors, the report reveals how macroeconomic pressures like inflation and higher interest rates are affecting small businesses’ ability to create jobs and get the funding they need to grow.

THE STATE OF SMALL BUSINESS

The report finds that in 2023, while overall employment levels have trended upward in Canada, the US, and UK, small business employment has been less resilient. Using anonymized data from more than 3.4 million Intuit QuickBooks customers and surveys of more than 5,000 small businesses in Canada, the US and the UK, the report looks at how small businesses are responding to these challenges, and examines the relationships between small business growth, access to capital, and use of digital technology. Key findings include:

With elevated inflation and high-interest rates, small businesses have increasingly depended on their credit cards, with the current spending being 20% higher, on average, than they were before the pandemic. At the same time, their monthly credit card payments, which include interest charges, are up by 26% on average.
These pressures are affecting jobs: small business employment rates declined in seven of the first eight months of 2023 in Canada, and in the first five months of 2023 in the US. Similarly, in the UK, small business job vacancy growth rates declined in all of the first eight months of 2023.
The rise of the solopreneur (non-employer businesses) shows entrepreneurship is stronger than ever; however, in Canada and the US, fewer new businesses are creating jobs, a concerning trend because in the US, more than a third of all jobs are with small businesses while in Canada and the UK it’s more than two in five.
Access to funding is essential for small business growth, but roughly half of small businesses in Canada, the US and the UK are self-funded by the owner. New businesses and businesses owned by women or members of underrepresented racial groups often face greater funding challenges.
Despite inflation declining over the past year, small businesses in Canada, the US and the UK say rising costs are still the number one challenge they face.
FRESH INSIGHTS ON CANADIAN SMALL BUSINESSES

Small business employment and hiring: In January 2023, Canadian small businesses with 1-19 employees employed 5.2 million people, rebounding to a similar level in August 2023 after several months of declines, before declining again in September (source: Intuit QuickBooks Small Business Index).

Small businesses contribute to the economy: In Canada, 99% of all Canadian businesses are small businesses; 47% of all Canadian workers are employed by small businesses.

Rise of the solopreneur (non-employer businesses): In 2015, self-employment made up just under 68% of all Canadian businesses. By 2022, this had risen to more than 69%. This rise is significant because it is part of a longer-term trend, similar to the US, where fewer new businesses are creating jobs. The report connects this to the rise of gig work and digital technology.

Small business finances: Monthly small business credit card expenditure is currently 18% higher, on average, than before the pandemic, equivalent to $2,700 CAD per business while monthly repayments against credit card account balances are up by 22% on average, again equivalent to $2,700 CAD per business.
Small business access to funding: While 51% of Canadian small business owners surveyed have used their own savings to fund their business, only 27% report ever getting funding from a commercial lender. New small businesses (0-5 years old) are more than twice as likely to say “getting funding” is their number one challenge compared to older small businesses (21+ years).
Adoption of digital tools and technology: Higher use of digital tools and technology (such as software, apps, social media, and e-commerce) correlates with higher growth among small businesses surveyed. Among Canadian small businesses using digital tools to manage 8 or more different areas of their business, 63% report revenue growth and 22% report workforce growth but, among those only managing up to 2 areas with digital tools, this drops to 31% and 5%, respectively.
Leading global economist and Arnold C. Harberger Professor of Economics at the University of Chicago, Ufuk Akcigit said: “We know that small businesses play a significant role in empowering the Canadian economy, in fact, they provide almost half (47%) of jobs in the Canadian economy. In spite of their importance, their size and the challenges accessing capital makes them particularly vulnerable to economic shifts because of inflation and rising interest rates. Despite these challenges, there are reasons for optimism. Using insights from our research, we have developed recommendations that small businesses can take to help ensure their resilience and growth, including staying on top of their cash flow, making smart banking decisions and leveraging the power of digital technology. All of these actions can help small businesses in the face of economic challenges, and the future health of our economy depends on their success today.”

Sasan Goodarzi, CEO of Intuit said: “Becoming an entrepreneur is a bold decision. Given the significant impact new and growing small businesses have on job creation, innovation, and the economy, policymakers and industry leaders should be equally bold in creating an environment where small businesses can grow and thrive. We remain focused on working across the industry to create new and innovative ways to serve our customers and help solve their most pressing challenges.”

Based on the research and insights from the report, Intuit has developed a set of recommendations for policymakers, accountants advising their small business clients, and entrepreneurs starting and running small businesses. These concrete, actionable recommendations can help policymakers foster an environment conducive to small business growth and resilience; accountants provide guidance to their clients in responding to the challenges and trends identified in the report; and small business owners set their businesses up for success.

For more insights, check out the Intuit QuickBooks Small Business Index Annual Report here. To stay up to date on the latest monthly Index releases, visit the Intuit QuickBooks Small Business Index interactive hub.

ABOUT THE REPORT

RIGOROUS METHODOLOGY

The report’s findings are based on a new analysis by Ufuk Akcigit, Raman Singh Chhina, Seyit M. Cilasun, Javier Miranda, Eren Ocakverdi, and Nicolas Serrano-Velarde of four data sources, in partnership with Intuit QuickBooks data analysts:

Intuit QuickBooks Small Business Index: recent employment and hiring trends among small businesses in the US, Canada, and the UK. Methodology details available here.

Intuit QuickBooks customer data: anonymised, aggregated and reweighted/adjusted to reflect the wider population of small businesses in the US, Canada, and UK, not Intuit’s business, to provide new insight into small business access to credit, credit card expenditure, and payments against credit card balances during the recent inflationary period. Sample: 3.4 million small businesses; 2,795,000 in US; 305,000 in Canada; 313,000 in UK.
Intuit QuickBooks Small Business Insights: regular online surveys of small businesses with up to 100 employees, commissioned by Intuit QuickBooks in the US, Canada, and UK every three to four months. Total sample size for April 2023 wave of surveys: 5,175 (comprising 2,805 small businesses in the US; 1,210 small businesses in Canada; and 1,160 small businesses in the UK).

Official statistics and other external sources, including publicly available data from: the U.S. Census Bureau; Federal Financial Institutions Examination Council, Bank Holding Company (US); National Federation of Independent Businesses (US); Statistics Canada; Office for National Statistics (UK), Department for Business, Energy & Industrial Strategy (UK);
New insights from the analysis of this data comprise four major topic areas in the Intuit QuickBooks Small Business Index Annual Report:

Long-term small business employment trends and the critical role small businesses play in the US, Canadian, and UK economies, including: job creation, the rise in self-employment, and the COVID-19 pandemic’s contribution to new business growth. Source: official statistics.

Recent trends in small business employment since the COVID-19 pandemic, in four phases: initial downturn due to the spread of the virus; recovery period as small businesses adapted and new businesses were created; second downturn coinciding with higher inflation and interest rates; and, lately, early signs of a second rebound, particularly in the US. Source: Intuit QuickBooks Small Business Index.

Small business access to funding: why small businesses need funding, where they get it, how they use it, and which businesses face the greatest challenges obtaining it — with a close examination of the impact of inflation on small business finances, using anonymised data from QuickBooks customers in the US, Canada, and UK. Source: Intuit QuickBooks customer data and Intuit QuickBooks Small Business Insights survey (see sample details above).
The state of small business in the US, Canada, and UK today: combining a new analysis of official statistics with survey data from more than 5,000 small businesses, including 2,325 QuickBooks customers. Source: Intuit QuickBooks Small Business Insights survey (see sample details above).

The full methodology is provided in the appendix of the Intuit QuickBooks Small Business Index Annual Report.

ABOUT PROFESSOR UFUK AKCIGIT

Ufuk Akcigit is the Arnold C. Harberger Professor of Economics at the University of Chicago. He is an elected Research Associate at the National Bureau of Economic Research, Center for Economic Policy Research, and the Center for Economic Studies, and a Distinguished Research Fellow at Koc University. He has received a BA in economics at Koc University, 2003, and Ph.D. in economics at Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 2009.

As a macroeconomist, Akcigit’s research centers on economic growth, technological creativity, innovation, entrepreneurship, productivity, and firm dynamics. His research has been repeatedly published in the top economics journals, cited by numerous policy reports, and the popular media. The contributions of Akcigit’s research has been recognised by the National Science Foundation with the CAREER Grant (NSF’s most prestigious awards in support of early-career faculty), Kaufmann Foundation’s Junior Faculty Grant, and Kiel Institute Excellence Award, among many other institutions. In 2019, Akcigit was named the winner of the Max Plank-Humboldt Research Award (endowed with 1.5 million euros and aimed at scientists with outstanding future potential). In 2021, Akcigit was awarded the prestigious Guggenheim Fellowship and was named a Fellow of the Econometric Society. In 2022, he received the Sakip Sabanci International Research Award and Kiel Institute’s Global Economy Prize.

ABOUT INTUIT

Intuit is the global financial technology platform that powers prosperity for the people and communities we serve. With 100 million customers worldwide using TurboTax, Credit Karma, QuickBooks, and Mailchimp, we believe that everyone should have the opportunity to prosper. We never stop working to find new, innovative ways to make that possible. Please visit us at Intuit.ca and find us on social for the latest information about Intuit and our products and services.

 

Mario Toneguzzi is Managing Editor of Canada’s Podcast. He has more than 40 years of experience as a daily newspaper writer, columnist, and editor. He was named in 2021 as one of the Top 10 Business Journalists in the World by PR News – the only Canadian to make the list

About Us

Canada’s Podcast is the number one podcast in Canada for entrepreneurs and business owners. Established in 2016, the podcast network has interviewed over 600 Canadian entrepreneurs from coast-to-coast.

With hosts in each province, entrepreneurs have a local and national format to tell their stories, talk about their journey and provide inspiration for anyone starting their entrepreneurial journey and well- established founders.

The commitment to a grass roots approach has built a loyal audience on all our social channels and YouTube – 500,000+ lifetime YouTube views, 200,000 + audio downloads, 35,000 + average monthly social impressions, 10,000 + engaged social followers and 35,000 newsletter subscribers. Canada’s Podcast is proud to provide a local, national and international presence for Canadian entrepreneurs to build their brand and tell their story.

#business #CanadasNumberOnePodcastforEntrepreneurs #entrepreneurs #entrepreneurship #small business

How can Entrepreneurs Survive in these Tough Timnes - Newscast, Canada’s Podcast

Well-known Canadian entrepreneur Arlene Dickinson, who is also a Dragon on CBC’s Dragons’ Den TV show, discusses how entrepreneurs can survive and thrive in these difficult economic times.

In this video interview, Dickinson talks about common mistakes entrepreneurs make, how you can grow a business even in this environment, if the economy is discouraging people from becoming entrepreneurs, why would people start a company today and the role of social media for an entrepreneur.

Mario Toneguzzi is Managing Editor of Canada’s Podcast. He has more than 40 years of experience as a daily newspaper writer, columnist, and editor. He was named in 2021 as one of the Top 10 Business Journalists in the World by PR News – the only Canadian to make the list)

About Us

Canada’s Podcast is the number one podcast in Canada for entrepreneurs and business owners. Established in 2016, the podcast network has interviewed over 600 Canadian entrepreneurs from coast-to-coast.

With hosts in each province, entrepreneurs have a local and national format to tell their stories, talk about their journey and provide inspiration for anyone starting their entrepreneurial journey and well- established founders.

The commitment to a grass roots approach has built a loyal audience on all our social channels and YouTube – 500,000+ lifetime YouTube views, 200,000 + audio downloads, 35,000 + average monthly social impressions, 10,000 + engaged social followers and 35,000 newsletter subscribers. Canada’s Podcast is proud to provide a local, national and international presence for Canadian entrepreneurs to build their brand and tell their story.

#business #CanadasNumberOnePodcastforEntrepreneursentrepreneurs #entrepreneurship #smallbusiness

Revolutionizing renewable energy with its scalable modular dams - Prince Edward Island - Canada’s Podcast

Aslan Renewables, a PEI-based company founded by successful tech entrepreneur Andrew Murray, is revolutionizing renewable energy with its scalable modular dams designed to bring Canada’s 50,000 historical hydro sites back to life with modern technology.

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Entrepreneurs are the backbone of Canada’s economy. To support Canada’s businesses, subscribe to our YouTube channel and follow us on Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn and Twitter.

Want to stay up-to-date on the latest #entrepreneur podcasts and news? Subscribe to our bi-weekly newsletter

Lenders Signaling Optimism in Real Estate - Newscast, Canada’s Podcast

In this interview, Carmin Di Fiore, Executive Vice President of CBRE’s Debt and Structured Finance team, discusses the real estate company’s latest Canadian Real Estate Lenders’ Report.

Di Fiore talks about how lenders are feeling about the market right now, what cities in Canada are seeing investment, what assets are attractive today, how the office market is still struggling and what to expect with the economy in 2024.

PRESS RELEASE 

Toronto, ON – November 27, 2023 – Lenders are signaling optimism in real estate as interest rate hikes appear to plateau. The amount of debt capital available to facilitate Canadian real estate transactions is expected to grow modestly in 2024. According to CBRE’s new Canadian Real Estate Lenders’ Report, lenders plan to add 16% of net new capital into the real estate market in the coming year, and 79% of lenders say they plan to expand their outstanding real estate loan books in 2024.

Despite this focused growth in lending for real estate, for the first time in four years a small group of lenders have reported intentions to modestly trim their amount of capital available next year. Lenders unanimously see elevated interest rates as the top challenge facing the Canadian lending market in 2024. The impact of interest rates on property cash flows and pricing has created uncertainty around property valuations, which ranks as the second greatest challenge expected by lenders next year.

Recession fears have faded and are currently not a top concern for lenders in 2024. Expectations appear to have shifted towards a “soft landing” for the economy, with only potentially moderate or minor impacts on underwriting. In fact, 12% of lenders do not plan to factor any recession into their property underwriting for 2024. It should also be noted that less than one-third of lenders expressed concern with real estate market fundamentals.

CBRE’s Canadian Real Estate Lenders’ Report surveys domestic and foreign lenders to gauge commercial real estate lending sentiment and offers borrowers insights on what to expect as they look to access real estate financing.

Toronto, Vancouver, Montreal, and Ottawa are the markets generating the strongest lender appetite. In terms of asset classes, Purpose-Built Rental (Conventional), Purpose-Built Rental (CMHC-Insured), and Industrial were cited as the most favourable property types for lenders and with the most available financing.

“The challenging conditions in real estate are no longer news and the lending community is starting to look ahead to what comes next,” notes Carmin Di Fiore, Executive Vice President of CBRE’s Debt and Structured Finance team. “The continual escalation in cost of capital, valuation uncertainty and tightening credit have impinged on the industry’s performance and reduced real estate transactions. That said, the general tone in the market has improved slightly looking ahead to 2024.”

Here are six additional takeaways from CBRE’s new Lenders’ survey:

Office Sector Poses the Greatest Challenge
Lender sentiment on office assets continues to deteriorate, as 67% intend to cut their exposures next year and none have plans to increase their budgets for office in 2024.

Class B office in the suburbs and downtown core caused the greatest concern, with 94% of lenders expressing concern for each property type. Class A office assets also recorded the largest declines in lender sentiment year-over-year, in both the suburban and downtown segments.

Through an open-ended survey question, more than half of the lenders cited work-from-home in some form as the greatest challenge facing the office lending market today. Uncertainty surrounding office valuations is another challenge given leasing demand and a lack of sale comparisons.

Property Types with Most Lender Concern

Office – Suburban, Class B
Office – Core, Class B
Retail – Regional Malls in Secondary Markets
Purpose-Built Rental in Greatest Demand
Purpose-built rental and industrial real estate remain the most desired asset classes among lenders, who have expressed strong intentions to increase budgets and expand exposures to both sectors in 2024.

Amid incentives offered by the federal government and some provincial governments for purpose-built rental development, lenders hope for increased multifamily development in Toronto, Vancouver, Montreal and Halifax.

Overall, lenders remain bullish on the industrial sector, with only a small minority expecting a market correction. But debt availability for industrial development is likely to be more nuanced next year as 55% of lenders reported low or no appetite to finance speculative industrial construction in 2024.

Among the alternative real estate sectors, self-storage and seniors housing recorded the greatest interest, with over a third of respondents that lend to those sectors looking to increase their 2024 budgets.

The hotels asset class recorded the biggest improvement in lender sentiment, marking the third consecutive year of improvement for the sector, with only 18% of lenders expressing concern.

Property Types Most Favoured by Lenders

Purpose-Built Rental (Conventional)
Purpose-Built Rental (CMHC-Insured)
Industrial
Toronto and Vancouver Are Tops
The top real estate markets for lender appetite remain Toronto, Vancouver, Montreal and Ottawa. Lender appetite for Hamilton and Waterloo Region increased, and Calgary also saw a notable improvement year-over-year in terms of the combined number of lenders with strong and moderate appetites for that market.

While Saskatoon and Winnipeg have the lowest level of lender appetite, the majority of lenders still operate and offer liquidity in those markets in some capacity.

Top Cities for Lending

Toronto
Vancouver
Montreal
Inflation Expected to Stay Sticky
More than half of lenders (51%) expect inflation to return to its current target of 2.0% by H1 2025, ahead of the Bank of Canada’s current projection for H2 2025. Lenders do not share a consensus on where the policy interest rate is expected to be by year-end 2024; 39% expect interest rate cuts of up to 75 bps from the current 5.00%.

A small group of lenders project even steeper cuts, bringing the rate to 3.75% or lower by year-end 2024.

In terms of bond yields, 57% of lenders expect the Canada 10-year bond yield to largely hold at around 4.00% over the next 12-months.

Condo Financing Tightens
The slowdown in the housing market is having implications on the residential condominium sector and 78% of lenders active in the space have tightened lending conditions on development financing.

The most common adjustment by lenders continues to be requiring greater levels of up-front equity for condo construction projects. The next most common changes include 39% of active lenders requiring greater deposit requirements with shorter payment schedules and 22% requesting the sizes of projects be scaled back.

Financed Emissions a Growing Consideration
Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) and its impacts on real estate lending in Canada continues to evolve, with 68% of lenders saying they expect a property’s carbon footprint to materially impact its ability to secure a mortgage with competitive terms within the next 1 to 5 years; a further 11% of lenders report it is already happening and having an impact today.

Half the lenders surveyed currently expect ESG to either significantly or moderately influence both debt availability and mortgage pricing; 23% of lenders have indicated they declined to bid on a real estate loan in 2023 due to the underlying asset’s ESG profile.

Given the expectation for ESG’s greater influence over the availability of debt and mortgage pricing in the near future, 69% of lenders have already started incorporating, or plan to incorporate, ESG in their decision-making.

Mario Toneguzzi is Managing Editor of Canada’s Podcast. He has more than 40 years of experience as a daily newspaper writer, columnist, and editor. He was named in 2021 as one of the Top 10 Business Journalists in the World by PR News – the only Canadian to make the list

About Us

Canada’s Podcast is the number one podcast in Canada for entrepreneurs and business owners. Established in 2016, the podcast network has interviewed over 600 Canadian entrepreneurs from coast-to-coast.

With hosts in each province, entrepreneurs have a local and national format to tell their stories, talk about their journey and provide inspiration for anyone starting their entrepreneurial journey and well- established founders.

The commitment to a grass roots approach has built a loyal audience on all our social channels and YouTube – 500,000+ lifetime YouTube views, 200,000 + audio downloads, 35,000 + average monthly social impressions, 10,000 + engaged social followers and 35,000 newsletter subscribers. Canada’s Podcast is proud to provide a local, national and international presence for Canadian entrepreneurs to build their brand and tell their story.

It’s the end of an era for News - The Industry can either adapt or die. - Newscast, Canada’s Podcast

In this interview, Peter Menzies, Senior Fellow with the Macdonald-Laurier Institute, former newspaper executive and past vice chair of the CRTC, discusses the state of the media in Canada.

Menzies talks about how the industry is at a point where it needs to adapt or die, how it got to this point, who is to blame, the federal government online legislation, the CBC, and the growth of alternative news publications.

Below is a column Menzies wrote for The Hub.

By Peter Menzies, November 22, 2023

Twenty years ago, it should have been obvious to all that the jig was up for newspapers and journalism was going to need a new ride.

Print had a good run—almost 600 years—but the invention by Tim Berners-Lee of the World Wide Web meant the era of massive presses and the power they bestowed on their owners was coming to an end. The only question, once Craigslist and Kijiji began boring holes in classified advertising, the economic foundation of newspapers, was whether there would even be time to save the furniture.

Since the turn of the century, there have only been two alternatives for legacy news organizations: adapt or die. While there has been some evidence of success in terms of the former, public policy support has ignored new ideas in favour of propping up the ones everyone knows won’t make it. The results have ranged from inconsequential to catastrophic.

In Canada, as author and academic Marc Edge has detailed in his most recent book, The Postmedia Effect, the possibilities for newspapers to adapt have been severely limited by the nation’s largest and dominant chain’s business and ownership structures. Thousands of jobs have been cut to ensure high-interest debt payments can be made to its U.S. hedge fund owners.

Easy to blame management, one supposes, but hedge funds gotta hedge and the primary fault for the mess that is Canada’s news industry belongs squarely at the door of the nation’s public policymakers. Sadly, outdated foreign ownership regulations restricted the supply of qualified buyers for media organizations, which depressed the cost of acquiring newspapers to a level that facilitated their acquisition en masse by Southam, then Hollinger, then Canwest, then Postmedia. With every step, competition was suppressed through increasingly consolidated ownership only to find the nation’s largest newspaper chain owned by Americans.

You can’t make that up.

Piling on, the Competition Bureau in 2015 inexplicably approved Postmedia’s acquisition of Quebecor (Sun) Media’s newspapers based on the “lack of close rivalry” between newspapers such as the Calgary Herald and the Calgary Sun and “the incentive for the merged entity to retain readership and maintain editorial quality in order to continue to attract advertisers.”

All said with a straight face.

Anyone who had actually worked in the business—I put in shifts at both the Calgary Sun and the Calgary Herald in their halcyon days—would know that this is sheer nonsense justified only by the extreme narrowness of the analysis the Bureau undertook. Today, the only distinguishable difference in content between the Herald and the Sun is that Don Braid writes a column for the Herald, and Rick Bell writes one for the Sun—a pretense of competition that appears to have allowed both to extend their careers well beyond those of thousands of their colleagues.

“No solutions can be found until the issue of the CBC is dealt with.”

Thirty years ago, Bell and Braid shared more than 250 newsroom colleagues covering events in a city of fewer than 800,000 people. Today, reflective of their business’s demise, a couple of dozen survivors cling to the Herald/Sun lifeboat in a city approaching 1.5 million. Their presses and even their buildings have been sold to feed the hedge fund.

Implementation of policies designed to sustain business models that produce results such as these in the hope of “saving journalism” is self-evidently unwise.

We live at a time when innovation and entrepreneurship—virtues that are fuelled by competition and suppressed by consolidation—are desperately needed.

While those are clearly lacking in the newspaper industry (laudable exceptions apply at the Globe and Mail, Le Devoir, and a plethora of digital startups) it’s just as unlikely journalism can find salvation in the arms of Canada’s heavily regulated broadcasting industry. For it, with exceptions acknowledged, the provision of news has always been primarily a regulatory obligation and not a core business proposition.

Broadcasters are in the business of entertaining people with music, drama, chat, and related programming and have long acknowledged there is little or no money in them for news. All too often, it’s just regulatory rent.

For those who may believe, though, the ponderous regulatory processes in place at the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC) make the entrepreneurship and innovation needed to adapt in an era of massive technological change almost impossible.

But all that is now as may be. Rear view mirrors may help protect from encroaching harms but they are not at all useful in terms of actually going places. And journalism clearly needs a new car and new drivers if it is to thrive as a public good.

Any doubt that societies require trustworthy and shared sources of information to maintain a peaceful social compact should have been erased by the events of the past few weeks.

It is clear from the protests and virulent antisemitism that erupted in the wake of the Hamas attack on Israel that large numbers of Canadians are forming their opinions based not on differing interpretations of the facts but on very incompatible understandings of current reality.

In these circumstances, and in this instance at least, the common ground necessary to establish a healthy public square of ideas simply doesn’t exist. Without such a venue, societies collapse into warring tribes.

But before we can even begin to explore the complexity of THAT problem, there needs to be a sustainable path forward for fair, balanced, and accurate news gathering and delivery.

The federal government’s best efforts to make that happen have been disastrous. The Online News Act has done more harm than good, with news providers losing access to audiences through Facebook and Instagram while an even more disastrous Google news boycott hovers menacingly over the industry. The five-year-old journalism labour tax credit hasn’t stopped newsrooms from continuing to shrink. And while the Local Journalism Initiative has created temporary employment opportunities in news “deserts”, it didn’t stop the Alaska Highway News, as just one example, from folding last month.

Worse, there is increasing evidence to suggest that the more the public becomes aware of direct government funding to journalism organizations, the less likely it is to trust those organizations and label reporters as toadies with labels such as “#JustinJournos.” Should the government change, they would no doubt be #Pierre’sPravda.

None of this ends well.

What Canada desperately needs instead is a multi-pronged, coordinated national strategy based on current economic and market realities that will allow journalism to flourish again. A few months ago, Konrad von Finckenstein and I tried to get the ideas rolling with our policy paper for the Macdonald Laurier Institute, “And Now, The News”.

Its two flashiest recommendations called for the establishment of a truly independent journalism sustainability fund supported by contributions from web giants such as Meta, Google, and others and, vitally, the de-commercialization of the CBC.

The CBC, already government-funded, would not be eligible to draw from this fund, which we proposed should be supported by reasonable levies on tech companies and would only be available to companies whose primary business is the production of news.

I have some sympathy for those who would argue that such a fund would best be used to support entrepreneurship as opposed to simply propping up what commentator Jen Gerson has labelled “zombie” newspapers that refuse to either adapt or die.

But our proposal would nevertheless eschew such distinctions and make the fund accessible to all industry-verified news organizations solely on a per capita/journalist basis. News providers would still be free to make deals with social media to build readership and make other commercial deals with digital platforms as both parties see fit.

But that, on its own, doesn’t solve the problem.

In fact, no solutions can be found until the issue of the CBC is dealt with.

It is one thing to have a public broadcaster. But today’s CBC is not that. It has evolved into a publicly funded commercial broadcaster and online content provider. Even its radio content, while broadcast free of advertising over the air, is repurposed to build online audiences and revenue in direct competition with news startups and legacy media attempting to transition into vibrant digital platforms.

No industry can survive, let alone prosper, when the government subsidizes one commercial entity—in this case with $1.2 billion annually—to the detriment of all others.

There certainly can be an important role for a national, truly public news provider. But CBC must be de-commercialized everywhere it operates, its mandate sharply re-focused, and its content made available at no charge through a Creative Commons license to other domestic news organizations.

The removal of the CBC’s ability to sell advertising would immediately free up $400 million in revenue for which news organizations could compete. As an added benefit, Canada would get a re-focused public broadcaster, and free access to its news content would allow all journalism providers to benefit from, instead of being punished by, government funding of the CBC.

Our other proposals include making subscriptions to news organizations 100 percent tax deductible—a move that would subsidize the consumption of credible news with a market-based incentive for those providing it.

We also proposed that:

All expenditures by Eligible News Businesses that involve investment in digital transformation technology are eligible to be claimed in their first year as capital cost allowances.
Phasing out of the current labour tax credit over a period of five years, declining in value by 20 percent annually in order to wean news organizations from it gradually while they adapt to a more permanent policy framework.
Phasing out of the Local Journalism Initiative over a period of five years, declining in value by $4 million per year and with adjustments that would make it available only to news organizations serving market areas of less than 100,000 people and limited to easily defined core coverage beats such as public safety, courts, school boards, and municipal councils.
Phasing out of the Canada Periodical Fund, which is no longer relevant in the digital age, over the course of three years.
Ensure that the CRTC is engaged in the development of national news policies so that it considers the entire scope of the news industry when contemplating conditions of license for broadcasters.
To those, I would add maximizing the value of tax credits for contributions to news organizations structured as not-for-profit businesses.

Neither I nor my policy paper co-author, who these days is occupied as interim federal ethics commissioner, pretended to have all the solutions.

As we wrote when our paper was published, building a national news industry policy is a tricky business.

What we believed was that the pattern of ad hoc subsidies, willful ignorance of the impact of a commercial CBC, fear of failure, and the ill-conceived Online News Act were nothing but trouble and that a thoughtful, multi-pronged national news industry policy was called for.

It still is.

When it’s done—when all the ideas are out there and the best of them are implemented—news organizations will still only survive through the quality of their work.

Not all companies will, or should, survive and, frankly, some need to get on with their dying and get out of the way of those building a future for journalism.

Fretting over and attempting to preserve the past and its icons is emotionally tempting. But it will not give news organizations the fighting chance they need to transition from unstable business models to those capable of sustaining quality journalism in the years ahead.

We are at the end of the end of an era. It’s time to embrace a new genesis.

Peter Menzies is a Senior Fellow with the Macdonald-Laurier Institute, a former newspaper executive, and past vice chair of the CRTC.

Mario Toneguzzi is Managing Editor of Canada’s Podcast. He has more than 40 years of experience as a daily newspaper writer, columnist, and editor. He was named in 2021 as one of the Top 10 Business Journalists in the World by PR News – the only Canadian to make the list

About Us

Canada’s Podcast is the number one podcast in Canada for entrepreneurs and business owners. Established in 2016, the podcast network has interviewed over 600 Canadian entrepreneurs from coast-to-coast.

With hosts in each province, entrepreneurs have a local and national format to tell their stories, talk about their journey and provide inspiration for anyone starting their entrepreneurial journey and well- established founders.

The commitment to a grass roots approach has built a loyal audience on all our social channels and YouTube – 500,000+ lifetime YouTube views, 200,000 + audio downloads, 35,000 + average monthly social impressions, 10,000 + engaged social followers and 35,000 newsletter subscribers. Canada’s Podcast is proud to provide a local, national and international presence for Canadian entrepreneurs to build their brand and tell their story.

#business #CanadasNumberOnePodcastforEntrepreneurs   #entrepreneurs #entrepreneurship #Media #news #Newspapers #smallbusiness

Climate Change Concerns are Disrupting Canadians Consumption Habits - Newscast, Canada’s Podcast

In this interview, Elliot Morris, Grocery and Consumer Packaged Goods Leader with EY Canada, discusses a new survey on how climate change concerns are disrupting Canadian consumption habits.

Morris talks about the habits of different demographics and trends in the retail industry.

PRESS RELEASE

(Toronto, November 14, 2023) The EY Future Consumer Index Survey reveals deepening concerns around inflation (96%) and climate change (84%) are pushing Canadians to change how they live and what they buy.

“Over the last few years, there has been a gap between intention and action for both companies and consumers in their efforts to address sustainability, but the real effects of environmental change on people’s lives is narrowing that gap and sparking a new wave of change,” says Monica Chadha, EY Canada Retail Leader. “As we head into the holiday season and beyond, we’ll see more shoppers take control and do their research to optimize for both economic and environmental benefits.”

Consumers are taking action by buying less

For the more than half of consumers who indicate they’re planning to buy less, 38% say this due to an effort to help the environment. Fashion accessories (60%) topped the list of product categories consumers plan to spend less on followed by toys and gadgets (52%) and clothing, footwear, beauty and cosmetics (48%).

“Extreme weather events, rising energy costs and continued changes to harvests and crops have meaningfully impacted prices and affordability — some consumers have already made switches out of necessity and more are likely to follow,” explains Elliot Morris, EY Canada Grocery and Consumer Packaged Goods Leader. “Consumer products companies can’t ignore the large percentages of Canadians who are changing their lifestyles and consumption habits in response to climate change and affordability concerns.”

Consumers are adapting to climate change-related needs

Nearly one-third of Canadians have had to change the food they eat because climate change has pushed up prices or limited the availability of products. This is pushing consumers to think differently, with 32% starting to consider buying products that can mitigate the effects of climate change.

Seeking ways to stretch their budgets, 41% of respondents plan to cook and entertain more often at home. This also means sacrificing takeout food, with 48% now planning to order less — a 15% jump from just over a year ago.

Generations act and spend differently on sustainability

Two-thirds (64%) of Canadians attribute their efforts to drive change to a personal concern for the fragility of the planet (up 8% from October 2022), there’s a clear generational divide when it comes to behaviours like using less plastic, recycling more or conserving water. Globally, 65% of baby boomers bring reusable bags to the store compared with just 43% of Gen Z, and 63% of baby boomers recycle or reuse packaging after use, compared with 48% of millennials.

On the flipside, younger generations in Canada are speaking with their wallets and double-checking company claims. One-quarter of Gen Z indicated that they are willing to pay for more sustainable goods and services compared with 6% of baby boomers. And 32% of Gen Z will check an organization’s sustainability policies online compared with 7% of baby boomers.

“People are more informed now about what sustainability means and have better access to information to assess whether a brand is living up to its promises,” adds Morris. “Companies need to get ahead and respond now by creating new products or reformulating existing ones to make them healthier and more sustainable, so they can protect their profitability and the brand experience.”

Learn more about the EY Future Consumer Index here.

Mario Toneguzzi is Managing Editor of Canada’s Podcast. He has more than 40 years of experience as a daily newspaper writer, columnist, and editor. He was named in 2021 as one of the Top 10 Business Journalists in the World by PR News – the only Canadian to make the list

About Us

Canada’s Podcast is the number one podcast in Canada for entrepreneurs and business owners. Established in 2016, the podcast network has interviewed over 600 Canadian entrepreneurs from coast-to-coast.

With hosts in each province, entrepreneurs have a local and national format to tell their stories, talk about their journey and provide inspiration for anyone starting their entrepreneurial journey and well- established founders.

The commitment to a grass roots approach has built a loyal audience on all our social channels and YouTube – 500,000+ lifetime YouTube views, 200,000 + audio downloads, 35,000 + average monthly social impressions, 10,000 + engaged social followers and 35,000 newsletter subscribers. Canada’s Podcast is proud to provide a local, national and international presence for Canadian entrepreneurs to build their brand and tell their story.

#business #CanadasNumberOnePodcastforEntrepreneurs #Consumers #entrepreneurs #entrepreneurship #retail #Shopping #smallbusiness