2 ms·
I'll sum from what I've seen. 1. the rents are too damned high. 2. Bureaucracy has barriers for everyone except monopolies, and prefers monopolies as it's les
by teunispeters 3y ago
I'll sum from what I've seen.
1. the rents are too damned high.
2. Bureaucracy has barriers for everyone except monopolies, and prefers monopolies as it's less groups to negotiate with. (A significant amount of said bureaucracy is private industry, but yes, most public qualifies too).
3. Internet access is controlled by a small group of monopolies who manage to (largely) keep access costs above anywhere else in the world, largely - and definitely higher than most of the USA.
4. Shipping is largely controlled by either US monopolies that aren't reliable, safe or consistent, or Canada Post who's been eroded repeatedly by Canadian Conservatives favouring their US friends.
5. US protectionism results in some businesses - especially supplies - either being shut down or bought up and moved US-side or the like. This one goes back a long ways, but Conservatives provincially and federally have escalated it every chance they have.
In short - if your business idea requires a storefront, you're likely paying 2-10x housing rent (or more), and your home will be 2-10x what it was renting for 1-3 years ago. Business rents go up arbitrarily without any ability to negotiate (as the people renting out control it). Household rent goes up arbitrarily, largely due to same. While I've not seen direct proof, there are signs most real estate is either owned by foreign (eg USA based or other) for (artificially inflated) investment, tax evaders or money launderers.
Canadian real estate isn't worth the price attached almost anywhere - especially when one qualifies that outside of some specific areas, it's colder than most other places in the world.
At the end of the day it's still possible, but if I could find a path to get a simple product to market without being swamped by amazon (and its cartels of forgers and thieves - most third party) or similar across other markets ... I would have long ago.
There's one more cost of entry - NIMBYism and city zoning. This is a subtle one - it means one has a lot of barriers against opening a business out of a home unless strictly mail order. This was established a long time ago...