From amalgamation and new ventures to fickle consumers and new competitors, businesses come and go for a variety of reasons. Generally speaking, more businesses being created than lost is a positive sign for the economy. Sometimes it’s more complicated, as we’ll see below.

Released on Monday, the latest data show that business creation in Alberta was relatively strong last year.

The number* of active businesses in Alberta in December 2024 was 1.4% higher than 12 months earlier compared to almost no growth nationally (+0.1%).

Growth was stronger in Newfoundland and Labrador (+2.0%) and Nova Scotia (+1.7%) while three provinces saw the number of active businesses decline: B.C. (-1.2%), Manitoba (-0.3%) and Quebec (-0.3%).

Among the three metro areas within Alberta for which we have data, Calgary posted the largest increase at +2.8% compared to +1.3% in Edmonton and +1.1% in Lethbridge.

Only St. John's (+3.2%) saw a larger increase in the number of active businesses than Calgary.

Three sectors—health and social assistance; accommodation and food services; and construction—drove most of the year-over-year growth in Alberta.

Sectors that saw some attrition include, for example, mining, quarrying, and oil and gas extraction (-4.1%); utilities (-3.0%); and information and cultural industries (-2.2%).

The decrease in the number of oil and gas businesses illustrates the difficulty of interpreting what these statistics mean. In this instance, it’s not a sign of declining output (which is up), but a reflection of a trend toward consolidation in the sector.

*All data in this report has been adjusted for seasonal variation.

Answer to the previous trivia question: There are 343 federal electoral districts (ridings) in Canada.

Today’s trivia question: How many women have been Prime Minister of Canada?