Statistics Canada says that, in October, the number of business openings exceeded the number of business closures for the third consecutive month. As a result, the number of active businesses in October edged up 0.6%. Despite the slight increase, the number of active businesses was down 6.7% from February 2020.
The pace of growth in active businesses has slowed down in the business sector. From September to October, business closures increased 6.9% and business openings decreased by 3.4%.

The number of business closures rose in all provinces and territories from September to October, except in Prince Edward Island and Yukon. However, the number of business closures across the provinces and territories was down more than 10% compared with the same month one year earlier.
Arts, entertainment and recreation recorded a steep increase, with business closures up 24.8%. Closures were up 6.0% in accommodation and food services, and 5.6% in retail trade.

The change in business closures from October 2019 to last October was a drop of 16.4 per cent in Saskatchewan. The biggest provincial drop was about 34 per cent in Newfoundland and Labrador.
Since July 2020, the pace of growth in active businesses has slowed down in the business sector. This trend is relatively consistent across industries.

To respond to an increase in COVID-19 infections, many provinces began implementing new guidelines for businesses in October. The impact of these changes and those that followed in subsequent months will be tracked in future releases.