Doing Business and Starting a Business In Canada How Do We Compare?

Filed in archive Startup on September 14, 2006

Overall we are number four (4) in the world for doing business but number one (1) for starting a business. Yahoo for us! You can view all the results over at the World Bank, Canada page.

Apparently, entrepreneurs in Canada only need to go through two steps to start a business which takes approx. 3 days and requires $ 2,934. Compared to the U.S. (# 3 for starting a business) who have five (5) steps which takes five days and costs $3,061.80 to start a business in the U.S.

The survey results do not state what exactly the 'costs' to start a business are actually used for. I assume that it is the cost to get a lawyer to incorporate, registration fees and licenses, and perhaps accounting fees? However, it could be based on the costs to incorporate a Federal corporation whereas registering a provincial corporation are usually lower, at least that is my experience in Alberta.

The bottom line is that it is pretty easy to start a business in Canada and the costs are comparable to our U.S. neighbors.