Consumption on the Rise

| Meat Industry Business Watch |
Farmers and Small
Business Owners
Most Respected
Canadians place a great deal of
importance on farmers and small
business owners.
By Virginia Labbie
RUNNING A FARM or small business can be very rewarding
but can also be a lot of hard work. As an entrepreneur is filling
out that unrelenting stack of government forms or dealing
with flooded cropland or trying to find skilled employees in a
tight labour market or sitting on hold again with the Canada
Revenue Agency, it may be easy to think – does anyone even
notice?
Well, the answer is yes!
Earlier this year, the federal government proclaimed 2011
as the Year of the Entrepreneur. To celebrate this and its 40th
anniversary, the Canadian Federation of Independent Business
+
How much respect do you have for
each of the following in Canada?
(scale of 0 to 10 where 10 is the
highest level of respect)
Farmers
Small business
Education system
Healthcare system
Legal system
Large companies
Banks
Government
Labour unions
8.7
8.2
7.0
7.0
5.9
5.6
5.6
5.3
5.1
Source: CFIB Report - Perspectives on small business in
Canada, Angus Reid Forum poll (2,028 responses), July 2011
(CFIB), in partnership with Hewlett-Packard (Canada) Co.
and Intel of Canada, Ltd., commissioned two opinion polls
through the Angus Reid Forum to better understand the
public’s opinions about small business and entrepreneurship.
The results of the poll released this month indicate that
Canadians do in fact place a great deal of importance on
farmers and small business owners. It is clear that the public
recognizes the significant contributions that both of these
groups make to their local communities, the economy and
society.
When asked to rate their level of respect for various groups
and institutions, Canadians not surprisingly gave top marks to
farmers and small business owners. In fact, farmers scored 8.7
out of 10 and small firms garnered 8.2 out of 10.
Government and labour unions were at the bottom of the
pack and scored just 5.3 and 5.1 out of 10 respectively.
Another highlight from the poll was that 94 per cent of
Canadians said they admire entrepreneurs because they know
that starting a business takes a lot of courage and perseverance,
especially when you consider the many challenges that
entrepreneurs face. Most Canadians also agreed that small
business is vital to their local community and close to 80 per
cent said that the economy is powered by entrepreneurs.
One of the interesting findings was that 83 per cent of
Canadians feel that governments undervalue the contributions
of entrepreneurs and small business. Given the low level of
respect by the public, governments need to make more efforts
to create a better environment for small business to thrive in.
That’s why CFIB is calling on federal, provincial and
territorial governments to ensure the next agriculture policy
framework, Growing Forward 2, encourages farmers and
small agri-food firms like food and meat processors to grow,
expand and become more competitive. When CFIB farm
and agri-business owners were surveyed about the future of
agriculture, they indicated their top priorities for government
action included:
• Focusing on regulatory reform and reducing red tape;
• Reducing the total tax burden;
• Improving market access for Canadian agricultural
products;
• Increasing focus on industry research, development and
innovation; and
• More responsive business risk management programs.
Let’s hope that governments are up to the task as they finalize
the details of Growing Forward 2 in the coming months. In
the meantime, let’s all continue to celebrate farmers and small
business owners, in this, the Year of the Entrepreneur.
Virginia Labbie is a senior policy analyst, agri-business
with the Canadian Federation of Independent Business,
Canada’s largest association of small- and medium-sized
businesses. She can be reached at virginia.labbie@cfib.ca
Established in 1971, CFIB is Canada’s largest association
of small- and medium-sized businesses.
34 Canadian Meat Business July/August 2011 meatbusiness.ca