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Nunavut bucks national trend on business closures

Although business closures outnumbered business openings nationally in August, Nunavut was one of only two jurisdictions to defy that trend, according to new data from Statistics Canada.
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Although business closures outnumbered business openings nationally in August, Nunavut was one of only two jurisdictions to defy that trend, according to new data from Statistics Canada.

In Nunavut, there were 14 more active businesses in August compared to July, a 4.3 per cent increase, Statistics Canada reported on Monday. Quebec was also positive in this regard, but only by 0.1 per cent.

Since April 2018, the worst month on record for Nunavut was June 2020, when only 319 businesses were operational. The peak of 356 active businesses came in November 2018, 13 more enterprises than the 343 registered this past August.

By comparison, the Northwest Territories listed 950 functioning businesses in August, down from 966 in July. In Yukon, 1,353 businesses were operational in July but that dropped slightly to 1,344 in August.

Across the country, business closures rose by 24 per cent in August, reversing course from July when there were 16 per cent more openings. June also showed a gain in business openings.

“This suggests that most businesses that reopened did so between June and July, when the majority of the (Covid-19) restrictions were eased,” Statistics Canada wrote.

August marked the first time since May 2020 that business closures outpaced business openings nationally, according to the data agency.