Majority of Manitoba small-business owners optimistic about 2026: CFIB

Small-business owners in Manitoba are feeling more optimistic about the future, a new survey shows.

The Canadian Federation of Independent Businesses polled business owners across Canada in January, and found 65 per cent of Manitoba respondents were optimistic about how their business would be performing a year from now — the highest stats in the country.

Short-term optimism was more moderate, with just under 52 per cent of businesses in Manitoba feeling optimistic about three to four months in the future.

“I think it really tells us Manitoba entrepreneurs feel better about where the province is heading over the next year, but it’s still very much a cautious optimism,” CFIB senior policy analyst Tyler Slobogian said on Friday.

Lower short-term optimism could come from worry over the upcoming provincial budget in spring, Slobogian said. Survey numbers from the CFIB in October found 70 per cent of small-business owners were not confident the next budget would include initiatives to strengthen their sector.

“Many are obviously looking for stable costs, improved labour mobility and, really, just focusing on red tape reduction. But overall, some affordability measures in the next budget would be key for many of these owners to really bump that short-term confidence up as well,” he said.

At Cobra Collectibles on Sargent Avenue, owner Michael Paille said despite crime remaining a prevalent issue, he finds himself hopeful the next year is going to be a good one.

“If we survived the (COVID-19) pandemic, we can survive what’s going on now. It’s having that positive attitude,” he said. “It’s the only way we’re going to keep businesses alive.”

In the last year, Paille has pivoted to keep up with the times, including offering delivery to compete with Amazon. It’s paid off.

Around Christmas, Paille said, sales were down but his customer base grew about 25 per cent.

“Is this a positive thing? To me, yes … that means maybe next year, my sales will be up more with that 25 per cent new customers.”

Politics on the national level and the response to the ongoing threat of U.S. tariffs likely had a role to play, said Loren Remillard, president and CEO of the Winnipeg Chamber of Commerce.

“What bore out over the (last) 12 months was definitely, in some sectors, some hard, hard times. But overall, the Canadian economy didn’t collapse, didn’t head into that deep, deep recession that many were projecting,” he said.

“And the fact that it didn’t, I think, gives confidence to business that we have more resiliency in our business community, in our economy at large, than we had previously imagined. That we will be OK, that we will find a way through.”

Remillard said the federal and provincial governments have “recognized the moment,” including by working to bring down interprovincial trade barriers.

“That’s not saying business feels we’re out of the woods, it’s not saying that business believes everything that’s happening is perfect,” he said.

“It’s just our responses to the crises and the results of the actions are giving business confidence that should things continue or things get worse, that we at least have a plan of action at a federal level and provincial, municipal (levels), and we have the means within our own businesses to be able to weather the storm.”

malak.abas@freepress.mb.ca