Nearly 300 Canadian CEOs participating in a recent survey by Chief Executive Group and MacKay CEO Forums listed the Canadian economy as their top-of-mind issue—that’s two-thirds of all those who participated in the survey, making it the #1 concern for business chiefs across the country, regardless of sector, size, region or any other demographic data.
Not far behind: “Federal politics / policies,” with 51 percent of the votes, tied in second place with “Talent recruiting, development and retention.”
The cost and availability of labour was close behind, in fourth place, with half of the polled CEOs marking it as a top consideration these days.
“Our biggest challenge is LABOUR followed by LABOUR,” said one of the participating CEOs.
That is substantiated by the fact that 60 percent of those polled said “Retaining and engaging employees” is a priority going into 2025—the #1 ranking answer on the list.
Those priorities, CEOs say, are based on expectations that there will be more than one interest rate cut by the Bank of Canada before year end, that inflation will continue to slow and that there will be a changing of the guard in Ottawa in the near future.
When we asked CEOs what could change their strategic direction and impede their ability to meet targets over the coming months, a reversal on trending-down inflation data and, as a result, a hold on interest rates and softening consumer demand, were the top three items on the list.
Policy Do’s and Don’ts
When asked specifically about the federal, provincial or local policies that are either hurting or helping businesses, more than three-quarters (79 percent) said taxes were the top detractor to growth for Canadian companies.
Environmental regulations (58 percent), immigration (55 percent) and labour/employment regulations (52 percent) rounded out the top four items hurting Canadian businesses, according to the CEOs polled.
When asked about trade policies, 67 percent of CEOs said they felt neutral about them (perhaps because 75 percent of respondents have little to no exposure outside of Canada, according to the survey), and 53 percent also felt neutral about healthcare plans.
About Chief Executive Group’s Canada CEO Confidence Index
Chief Executive Group polls hundreds of U.S. CEOs, CFOs, CHROs and board members throughout the year to build our CxO Confidence Index series. The Index provides insightful data into business trends and what will likely shape strategies for the year ahead. In August 2024, we expanded the series to Canada, with this first Canada CEO survey, which we conducted in partnership with MacKay CEO Forums.
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