Small Businesses in Saskatchewan Make a Big Impact

Released on October 16, 2017

The theme for this year’s BDC Small Business Week^TM is Future-proof your business: Adapting to technology and demographic trends.  The bank is partnering with Facebook to provide a number of free seminars to entrepreneurs, as part of a Boost Your Business with Facebook series.

In 2016, Saskatchewan’s more than 148,500 small businesses employed 31.1 per cent of the province’s workers and paid out more than $6.2 billion in wages and salaries - 25.7 per cent of the province’s total payroll.  As well, the wages paid in this sector grew by an average of 3.1 per cent, the second fastest growth rate among Canada’s provinces.

“Small businesses are active in almost every sector of the economy, and are a source of innovative products and services that advance our quality of life,” Bonk said.  “The provincial government is committed to creating and maintaining a positive business environment with policies that enable this sector to thrive.”

The Government of Saskatchewan has invested in a number of initiatives, services and programs that support the small business sector.

Some of these include:

• The Canada-Saskatchewan Job Grant, an employer-driven program which helps employers train new or current employees to meet their specific workforce needs.
• A highly competitive tax structure which includes tax credits for research and development, as well as for manufacturing and processing equipment expenditures.
• The Regulatory Modernization and Accountability Act, removes red tape that could be a road block to business, and to remove some of the barriers to growth.  In 2016-17, approximately $6.5 million was saved by businesses through red tape reduction initiatives introduced by the provincial government - part of $65.4 million in savings projected over the next 10 years.