Is Canmore Becoming Too Expensive For Small Businesses?

Despite strong business growth and rising revenues, a new Deloitte survey suggests many businesses are becoming increasingly concerned about whether Canmore is becoming too expensive to support long-term growth.

The business retention and expansion survey, presented to Canmore council on May 19, found that about 70% of businesses were satisfied operating in the community.

At the same time, the town recorded a negative business recommendation score, meaning more businesses were hesitant than enthusiastic about recommending Canmore as a place to expand or relocate.

The score, known as a Net Promoter Score, came in at -28.

Deloitte manager Simon Webb said the result was not unusual compared with other Canadian communities dealing with broader economic and political uncertainty.

“That negative is definitely not out of the norm compared to communities that we see across Canada, particularly over the last year or two,” Webb told council during Tuesday’s committee meeting.

“Overall, there’s a lot of good news in terms of business performance,” Webb added.

The survey, conducted by Deloitte Canada on behalf of the Town of Canmore, gathered responses from 545 businesses. Those included businesses planning to expand as well as businesses facing possible downsizing, relocation, sale, closure, or lease expiry concerns.

Businesses identified municipal property taxes, housing availability, commercial rents, childcare availability and development approval processes as the top pressures affecting their business satisfaction in Canmore.

Webb said concerns around municipal property taxes dropped significantly once short-term rental operators were removed from the analysis.

“When we did this analysis without the short-term rental businesses in the sample, the top five are really quite similar, but the key difference is that municipal property taxes drop way down,” Webb said.

He suggested Canmore’s recently introduced short-term rental licensing requirements and associated fees may have influenced how those operators responded to questions about municipal property taxes.

Webb said businesses across sectors continued raising concerns about housing availability, commercial lease costs and access to property.

The discussion added to growing concerns that housing affordability in the Bow Valley is increasingly affecting businesses’ ability to hire staff, expand operations and retain workers.

According to Canmore Community Housing, the average advertised rent in Canmore reached $2,389 per month for a one-bedroom unit and $3,211 per month for a two-bedroom unit in 2025.

At the same time, Alberta’s Regional Dashboard data shows Canmore’s total number of businesses and new business incorporations have generally increased since 2021, while the local economy remains heavily dominated by small businesses.

The Deloitte survey similarly found 79% of surveyed businesses employed five or fewer workers, with many identifying as locally owned, self-employed or home-based businesses.

Deloitte’s business health index gave Canmore a score of 702, slightly below the firm’s national five-year average of 758. The town performed strongly on revenue growth, but scored lower on business satisfaction and business confidence.

Webb said the town’s negative business recommendation score partly reflected a large number of businesses falling into a middle ground, not strongly negative, but not strongly enthusiastic either.

“You definitely still have the majority agreeing with the statement and really just being able to move some of those from the somewhat agree into the strongly agree would move that score up a huge amount,” Webb said.

Several members of council questioned what role municipalities can realistically play in addressing many of the pressures identified in the survey.

Mayor Sean Krausert said some of the pressures identified in the survey may reflect broader economic realities rather than problems municipalities can fully solve.

He said Canmore remains an expensive place to live and operate a business, meaning some business models may struggle to remain viable in the community.

“It is also an expensive place to be and to live,” Krausert said. “So it’s not for every business. Not every business can make it here because their economics don’t work here.”

Krausert also suggested municipalities may be better positioned to support business resilience and long-term planning through training and economic development programs rather than directly addressing all affordability pressures.

Economic development manager Eleanor Miclette said many of the pressures stem from basic supply-and-demand challenges in a community with limited commercial and residential space.

“We’re seeing 20, 30, 40% lease increases,” Miclette said. “It’s hard to adapt your sale prices to those lease prices because people might say, ‘Okay, there’s a rise in cost,’ but they might not be willing to pay for the product.”

Miclette said many small business owners become consumed by day-to-day operations, leaving little time to focus on long-term planning or adapting to changing market conditions.

“Business owners get deep into working in their business and not on their business,” Miclette said. “It takes actual purposeful effort to step back and say, ‘Okay. What do I need to be more strategic and how can I adapt in an ever-changing market.’”

The town said the survey results will now be used as a starting point for tracking Canmore’s business climate over time and guiding future economic development outreach.

Businesses that agreed to follow-up conversations are now being categorized for outreach and support efforts tied to expansion opportunities and potential retention risks, including lease expiry concerns.

“We’re trying to again create an understanding of what’s the baseline,” Miclette said. “And this is a good starting point.”