Against the backdrop of economic uncertainty and a trade war with the U.S., Ottawa businesses made their priorities for the new federal government clear in this year’s Welch Business Growth Survey.
Almost 80 per cent of respondents said that the policies of the U.S. administration under President Donald Trump would have a negative or very negative effect on Ottawa. This sentiment of unease was reflected in the annual business confidence index, which dipped to a low not seen since the onset of the global pandemic in 2020.
“With uncertainty about, ‘What are the tariffs going to mean? Are there going to be tariffs? How big is the retaliation going to be, at all?’. (This) leaves business leaders looking to the future with very little confidence. They don’t know how to make sense of it,” said David Coletto, founder and CEO of Abacus Data, which conducted the survey.
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Potential reductions in the federal civil service also concerned respondents, with 28 per cent saying the effect of a downsizing would be mostly negative for their business. Forty-two per cent said civil servants should be required to work in the office five days per week. More than 80 per cent of respondents said the federal government does not understand the needs of small businesses, while 33 per cent said federal procurement processes had worsened.
In terms of support for the high-tech sector, Coletto said “there is no one thing that pops out” as most pressing. Top responses included providing tax breaks and grants (19 per cent), letting the private sector take the lead (15 per cent), and simplifying regulations and procedures that affect the sector (11 per cent).
“For me it’s the first to signal that the business community isn’t clear on where the federal government should focus. It’s hard for (the) government to react if we don’t know what exactly we want,” Coletto said in a podcast with OBJ editor in chief Anne Howland.
Overall, almost three-quarters of respondents felt that the federal government did not invest enough in Ottawa as a national capital.
“It’s difficult to interpret this result,” said Howland. “But I think it reflects the desire on the part of local business to see Ottawa as a city elevated when it comes to federal priorities.”
The survey, conducted by Abacus Data for the Ottawa Business Journal and the Ottawa Board of Trade with the support of presenting sponsor Welch LLP, ran from Feb. 3 to April 1, 2025 and received 246 responses.
Click here to download the report.
