Some Canadian business owners expect pick-up in U.S. economy after election

By Warren S. Hersch

November 01, 2012 at 10:17 AM

Share & Print

One-third of Canadian business owners believe the U.S. economy will grow faster after next week's presidential election, according to a new survey.

BMO Financial Group released this finding in a summary of results from a survey of Canadian business owners.

While 32 percent of the survey respondents say the U.S. economy will gather steam after the presidential vote on Nov. 6, 27 percent don't believe the American economy will improve.

"Canada's outlook still depends quite heavily on the fate of the U.S. economy, with more than 70 percent of our exports bound for that market," said Doug Porter, deputy chief economist, BMO capital markets. "While that share has dropped from more than 80 percent 10 years ago, no other economy comes close to the U.S. weight in our trade flows."

BMO Economics forecasts the U.S. economy will grow by 2.2 percent, and just over that threshold in 2013, the survey says.

According to the BMO poll, when Canadian business owners were asked about the greatest challenges they face this year, the performance of the U.S. economy ranked sixth (cited by only 7 percent of businesses), down from being the biggest challenge cited when asked the same question last year (25 percent).

The greatest challenges cited include: