The new year has already gotten off to a good start for Canada's small businesses, as the most recent survey from the Canadian Federation of Independent Business saw its monthly barometer of small business confidence rise to 69.3, marking the highest figure since last March.
"Interestingly, it wasn't holiday retail spending that accounted for the brighter sentiment," said CFIB vice-president and chief economist Ted Mallett. "Instead, a large improvement in optimism among manufacturers, natural resource businesses, financial services and personal services firms pushed the overall index upward."
Newfoundland and Labrador saw the highest gains in confidence among small business owners, with an average reading of 72.3, according to the Toronto Sun.
But as the first business week of 2011 comes to a close, it is may be an appropriate time to reflect on the year that was.
Recently, the provincial government of Manitoba eliminated the province's small business income tax.
"Manitoba is now the only province in Canada without a provincial income tax for small businesses," wrote Colin Craig for the Winnepeg Sun. "The province gets a thumbs up for the move and their reductions to the tax over the past decade."
However, the province also hiked up the minimum wage by 25 percent - a move that has increased school property taxes and labor costs for small businesses, effectively eliminating the amount of money saved through the absence of a provincial income tax.
Last November, the Ontario government outlined a clean energy policy for the coming decade - a measure that many hope will create thousands of jobs in the province and serve as an example to other provinces.
One of the plan's provisions calls for the closing of all coal units by 2014, thereby creating 50,000 jobs for Ontario's emerging renewable energy sector. There are also plans to expand the region's hydroelectric power output to the highest level in 40 years, according to Business Review Canada.
In all, initiatives will bring the province's supply of renewable energy to 13 percent of all output by 2018. Analysts predict the emergence of the sector will spark a new wave of green tech entrepreneurs, boosting small business and employment nationwide.
"There is a clean energy revolution happening in Ontario, creating thousands of new, good jobs and cleaning up the air we breathe," Minister of Energy Brad Duguid told Business Review. "Our energy plan is an economic plan with Ontario at the forefront of clean energy, creating a new industry and new jobs. And, we're helping Ontario families with the cost of turning on clean energy and turning off dirty coal."
The nation's unemployment rate fell steadily throughout the year, as employment rates have risen consistently since mid-2009.
Canada increased its trade ties with China substantially in 2010, as the world's largest exporter struck a deal with Ottawa to double trade between the two nations by 2015.
"I have agreed with Prime Minister Harper that we should take active measures to make our countries' two-way trade volume reach a target of $60 billion by 2015," said Chinese president Hu Jintao in Ottawa, following a meeting with Prime Minister Stephen Harper.
Last year, trade between the country's totaled $29 billion, according to China Daily.
While, the recession has forced a slow economic recovery, 2010 marked an overall positive year for Canada' small business sector. With a number of key legislative maneuvers, analysts expect 2011 to continue this trend.
