Prince George, B.C.- Small business confidence in British Columbia dipped  in February,   the second straight month where it has seen  a slight decline,  but  the survey was  conducted  prior to the Provincial Budget being delivered.The February survey  indicated  small business optimism  dropped 1.5 points  to 63.7.   Despite the decline,  that  is still  above where it was  in  February of last year (61.1)  and still ahead of the national index which is 62.9.

An index level over 50 means  business owners expect their business’ performance to be stronger in the next year  and an index level of between 65 and 75  means the economy is growing at its potential.

BC Economist, Aaron Aerts expects the B.C.  business  confidence will rebound in March as the Provincial budget  provided some relief  in a couple of key areas “We saw small business  tax cuts and some work on the pst   so  that’s really high  priority for small businesses, so we  might  see a rebound in March”  He says overall, the  budget was good for small businesses

He says the issue of  affordable housing remains a concern for small business as they try to  recruit and retain employees  “Whether its dealing with higher property taxes today than it was ten years ago or  whether it’s trying to find qualified labour  due to the  fact  they are finding   it  difficult to find places to live .  There’s a mismatch between  where are people are living and where people are needed to work.” finding skilled labour  remains a challenge  says the CFIB as 39 per cent  of those surveyed indicated  it is limiting sales or production.

He says the Provincial sales tax remains the biggest  tax challenge for small business  ” We have seen some improvement in this budget,  but we would like to see some more  done to make it a little more competitive with other  jurisdictions.”

The overall hiring intentions were improved in February. Eighteen per cent of small business owners plan to increase full-time staff in the next three months, the same as in January.  But only seven per cent say they are looking to cut back, down three points from January.

While B.C. dropped in its  provincial placement  from third to 7th place,   that slide  had more to do with increases in confidence in other provinces.

The provincial numbers were: Manitoba (66.9), Quebec (66.6), PEI (66.1), Nova Scotia (65.2), New Brunswick (64.8), Ontario (64.7), BC (63.7), Saskatchewan (57.7), Alberta (49.8), and Newfoundland (43.6).