Fewer business closures, more openings in June compared with May: StatCan

Statistics Canada says it recorded 56,296 business closures in June, an improvement from May but still 44% more than in February before the COVID-19 pandemic struck in force in Canada.

It says the number of business closures in across Canada in June was down 5.6% compared with May.

The trend observed in June was observed in every province and territory except Quebec, which had a 2% increase in business closures compared with the previous month.

“The largest decreases since the previous month occurred in Nova Scotia (-29.3%; -403), Newfoundland and Labrador (-21.5%; -199), and Alberta (-19.5%; -1,688),” StatCan said. “For Quebec, the increase in business closures is largely due to an increase in other services, in transportation and warehousing, and in wholesale trade.”

In all provinces and territories, with the exception of Prince Edward Island and the Yukon, the number of business closures remains higher than the pre-COVID level of February, the agency said. “For instance, in Ontario, the level of business closures in June was 47.0% greater than the February level,” it said.

The number of business closures continued to decrease in Toronto and Vancouver from May to June, by 1,578 (-10.8%) and 445 (-8.2%), respectively. Meanwhile, the number of businesses that closed in Montreal increased by 279 (+3.9%).

“At the industry level, there were fewer business closures in June than in May in most industries,” StatCan said. “Declines continued to be observed in the most impacted industries in terms of business closures in April: there were 2,205 (-28.6%) fewer business closures observed in accommodation and food services, 2,229 (-31.7%) fewer in other services, which include personal services, and 888 (-14.6%) fewer in retail trade. In accommodation and food services, the number of business closures remains more than double the pre-pandemic level, while these are less than double in all other industries.”

On the plus side, business openings largely increased in June. “There were 52,723 business openings in June, an increase of 33.7% compared with May,” the agency said. “At the provincial level, the largest increases in business openings were observed in Nova Scotia (+79.9%; +599), Ontario (+40.5%; +5,912) and Saskatchewan (+30.9%; +362).”

But the agency says only about one-fifth of all businesses that closed in March or April had reopened by June – as a result, 14.1 of businesses that were active in February remain closed as of June.