ONLY 29% OF CANADA'S SMALL BUSINESSES BACK TO FULL SALES

Six months after the COVID-19 shutdowns, more than two-thirds of Canadian small businesses still haven't returned to full sales, says a new report. Only one in three, or 29 per cent, of small- and medium-sized companies surveyed by the Canadian Federation of Independent Business said they're back to “normal or better” sales as of Sept. 16. That number is largely unchanged since mid-July. Many businesses face capacity restrictions imposed by provincial and local authorities to curb the virus outbreak. “This underscores the need to kick the recovery into a higher gear,” Laura Jones, chief strategic officer at CFIB, said in the report. At the current pace, the average business won't see sales return to normal levels for another 17 months, the CFIB said.