Agri-Business Bottom Line #23

Ag News:

To determine Canadians’ attitudes towards small- and medium-sized businesses in Canada, Hewlett-Packard (Canada) Co. recently commissioned polls of the general public. The public opinion polls, which included 1,842 respondents from across Canada, were developed with the assistance of CFIB and conducted online by Ipsos Reid in August 2007.

The objective was to gain a sense of the opinions of Canadians towards small businesses and entrepreneurs. The poll strongly indicates that Canadians hold farmers and small businesses in high regard (see Figure 1). When asked to rate organizations or institutions on a 0 to 10 scale of respect – where 10 is the highest level- farmers received the highest rating (7.4 out of 10).

This poll also showed that everyday Canadians recognize the contributions that farmers and small business owners make to their communities and feel these businesses play a valuable role in the Canadian economy and society.