Federal politicians in the leadup to the May 2 federal election largely ignored the issue B.C. business executives care about most: cutting red tape and simplifying regulations, according to a Business in Vancouver-Ipsos Reid poll.
The 2011 second-quarter business confidence survey, conducted between April 11 and 17, included a representative cross-section of 188 businesspeople, 16% of whom are employed as either presidents or C-suite executives within their companies. The 2011 first-quarter BIV-Ipsos business confidence survey was published in issue 1110 (February 1-7).
Nearly one-quarter (23%) of survey respondents said red-tape reduction and simplified regulations was the issue that they most wanted to see debated by federal party leaders.
But the issue failed to register in most political coverage.
“It surprised me that so many people were saying that cutting red tape was their top issue,” Ipsos’ western region president Steve Mossop said prior to the May 2 election.
“The only party provincially or federally that has ever tackled red tape was the provincial Liberals. Now, here we are in an election and this red-tape issue is business leaders’ top concern and it’s not even hitting the radar screen.”
The Conservatives gained little media coverage in January when Prime Minister Stephen Harper created the Red Tape Reduction Commission. B.C. Finance Minister Kevin Falcon long ago left the now-scrapped ministry of state for deregulation, although he did praise Harper’s initiative to streamline processes for small-business owners.
In contrast, corporate taxation – the second-most-important business issue identified by business leaders in the survey – received widespread attention.
The Conservatives, now with a majority government mandate, promised to chop corporate taxes to 15% by 2012 whereas the Liberals planned to keep them at the 2010 tax rate of 18%. The NDP said it would roll back corporate tax cuts and return to the 2008 tax rate of 19.5%.
“Other things that didn’t hit the political radar screen, but were important for business leaders, were productivity, human resources and innovation,” Mossop said.
He was not surprised that most of the survey’s respondents said Harper would make the best prime minister (55%) and that Harper would best deal with business issues (62%).
The pre-election opinions came as the business leaders surveyed were less confident about their economic prospects for the next year than they have been since at least 2008.
The survey asked business leaders about perceived prospects to boost sales and profits, make capital expenditures and hire workers. In each category, respondents were less optimistic than they have been in years.
For example, only 51% thought that sales would be higher in the next year than the previous one. That contrasts with 64% between December 28 and January 9 when the last BIV-Ipsos survey was conducted.
Back in 2009, 73% of survey participants expected sales to rise in the coming year.
Those polled were also less optimistic about the B.C. economy as a whole than they were at the start of the year. Optimism, however, remains strong as 53% of those surveyed said they believe the economy will improve in the next year. That’s down from 64% who felt that way back at the start of the year. In 2009, 65% expected the B.C. economy to improve.
One consistent survey finding is that entrepreneurs and business leaders are inherently confident. Respondents are more positive about their own prospects than they are about those of their competitors.
While 51% believe their sales will rise in the next year, only 46% said the same thing would be true of their sector as a whole.
“Through the years we’ve seen that executives at companies are usually more optimistic about themselves than they are for their industry,” Mossop said.