Grow
BC Needs to Encourage
Small Businesses to
By Jock Finlayson
C
anada ranks as one of the best places
in the world to start a new business,
according to an annual survey done
by the World Bank.1 But the country does
less well when it comes to encouraging
its enterprises to grow—and in generating
private sector innovation.
The two phenomena are linked: An economic
and public policy environment that stimulates and rewards business growth should
also foster a high level of innovation, since
the evidence shows that growth-oriented
companies are more likely to develop and
adopt innovative technologies and business
practices.
In thinking about these issues, government
policy-makers in both Ottawa and Victoria
would be wise to pay close attention to the
outsized economic contributions made by the
sub-group of fast-growing small and mediumsized enterprises (SMEs)— ͽ