ONTARIO ELECTION

Choose Prosperity and Resilience for Ontario in 2025

Ontarians go to polls on February 27th, 2025 to elect a new provincial government. It is a critical moment – business owners are already experiencing rising cost of goods, rent, and insurance. Several industries face tariffs that would affect the price and supply of inventory while market uncertainty may discourage consumer spending.

For both national security and preserving Ontario’s small business ecosystem, the Better Way Alliance is calling on all candidates to focus on building small & medium business resilience. Creative and bold ideas will build an Ontario SME ecosystem that creates good jobs, boosts trade, and ensure that Ontario’s SME’s are built to last.

Supporting Ontario’s Small Business Future: Clear Solutions for 2025

Over 97% of employers in Ontario are small/medium businesses employing less than 100 staff.

(Key Small Business Statistics 2023, ISED Canada)

Small + Medium businesses fuel Ontario’s economy and create jobs in every community.

Yet owners face mounting pressures from rising commercial rents, insurance, workforce challenges, and economic uncertainty. Their resilience through COVID-19 proves their adaptability – but they need a government that understands their unique needs.

Small businesses compete differently than large corporations – they aren’t little big businesses. When local businesses thrive, they create good jobs, drive innovation, and keep wealth in our communities. Ontario needs leadership that will reduce barriers to competition and maintain balanced, transparent markets accessible to all entrepreneurs.

Small Business Quick Stats

(Click stats for external links to data)

  • Retail Rents Have Surged in Toronto since late 2023 68.5% 68.5%
  • Less than half of Ontario’s restaurants are profitable 47% 47%
  • Insurance costs are a top-concern for over 2/3rds of businesses 68% 68%
  • 1/3rd of businesses are worried about accrued debt & interest rates 33% 33%

Ontario’s next government can address two top priorities that are getting in the way of small/medium business growth: 

1) Reduce red tape that prevents small business transactions from happening quickly and affordably 
2) Reduce restrictive costs that eat away at our investments in productivity and jobs 

With federal mandates still forming, and shifting U.S. market conditions, Ontario’s next government must build a fair, competitive marketplace where small businesses can grow and succeed. Day-to-day business expenses have become prohibitive for many small businesses. We have practical solutions to help Ontario’s small businesses move beyond survival to prosperity.

From Survival to Prosperity | Revving up Ontario’s SME Engine 

Business Barrier
Rising Costs | Rent & Insurance

Proposed solution: Create a provincial insurance provider that introduces more competition and choice into the market. Adopt a Commercial Renter Bill of Rights. 

Small businesses across Ontario are facing skyrocketing rents.  In Toronto, retail rents are up 68.5% on average in a single year (TRREB).

Insurance costs are rising quickly and as insurance marketplace consolidation has taken place & some insurance companies have exited the marketplace, many small businesses are losing access to insurance. CFIB reports that 60% of Ontario businesses acquire their insurance from just 3 providers.

The Better Way Alliance is calling for:

  • Fair Rent Rules: A Commercial Renter Bill of Rights to prevent predatory leasing practices and ensure stability through standardized leases and rent guidelines.
  • Accessible Insurance: A Public Business Insurance Program to provide fair, accessible coverage and introduce more competition into the market.

These solutions will create new options while supporting existing marketplace operators – giving local businesses the stability they need to thrive and grow.

Business Barrier
Buying & Selling a Business

Proposed Solution: Establish a NextGen Ownership Fund to help local buyers purchase businesses from retiring owners individually or as a group.

Buying and selling an existing business is expensive and cumbersome, leaving many jobs, future profit and tax revenue unable to exchange hands. 

Ontario is ripe for innovation – the silver tsunami is creating an opportunity for talented entrepreneurs to grow existing companies, maintain local flavour, and unique company culture. We propose start-up capital & guidance to banks on how to finance transactions so eager entrepreneurs can revitalize a portion of the $2 trillion in assets held by retiring owners – maintaining and creating jobs and provincial revenue.

  • NextGen Ownership Fund: Support aspiring entrepreneurs in acquiring businesses, keeping jobs and innovation local.
  • Employee Ownership Trusts & Co-Ops: Help employees purchase businesses to preserve stability & continuity.
  • Local Ownership Mortgage Program: Enable small business owners to buy their commercial spaces with fair, accessible mortgage terms.

These programs strengthen local ownership, preserve jobs, and foster a resilient small business ecosystem.

Business Barrier
Access to Capital

Proposed Solution: Create a Local Ownership Mortgage Program for qualified entrepreneurs. Create Fair Growth Financing to increase Ontario’s dipping entrepreneur numbers.

Mortgage requirements for small commercial properties don’t always reflect the reality of small business cash flow or assets.

Access to funding is critical for small businesses to grow and innovate – yet in Canada & Ontario, capital remains elusive for businesses of all tenures & sizes. We propose targeted solutions to unlock capital for entrepreneurs:

  • Local Ownership Mortgage Program: Help businesses purchase commercial spaces, reducing reliance on volatile rental markets while reducing overhead costs – allowing reinvestment in the enterprise.
  • Fair Growth Financing: Expand funding opportunities for entrepreneurs – with specific targets for women, new entrepreneurs, and micro-businesses loans.

These programs would empower small businesses to last longer, create financial certainty, and create high productivity & retention jobs that would benefit every Ontario industry.

FAQ – Questions for your local candidates

What specific actions will you take to reduce skyrocketing rent and insurance costs that are forcing small businesses to close?

Small businesses across Ontario are being squeezed by rising rents—up 68.5% in Toronto since late 2023—and insurance rates that are not only unaffordable but also increasingly difficult to secure. These costs eat into margins, limit growth, and put local jobs at risk. The Better Way Alliance is advocating for a Commercial Renter Bill of Rights and a Public Business Insurance Program to address these issues. Ask your MPP how they will support these proposals to create stability and fairness in the market.

How will you ensure small businesses have fair access to funding, especially for growth, expansion, and purchasing their spaces?

Access to capital is critical for entrepreneurs to expand, innovate, and adapt. Yet many small businesses—especially women-led or micro-businesses—face barriers to securing loans and mortgages. Programs like the BWA’s proposed Local Ownership Mortgage Program can help business owners purchase their spaces, reducing dependence on volatile rents. Ask your MPP if they support creating targeted financing initiatives to ensure fair access for all entrepreneurs.

What is your plan to level the playing field so that big corporations can’t edge out small, locally-owned businesses?

Corporate monopolies often dominate markets, pushing small businesses out with unfair competition. This not only limits consumer choice but also stifles innovation and local job creation.

BWA is advocating for policies that curb monopolistic practices and promote transparency in commercial leasing and insurance markets. Without a change, rents & insurance will continue going up and eventually only chains and big businesses will be able to afford these high costs – meaning more main street chainification.

Ask your MPP what policies they’ll introduce to protect Ontario’s small businesses from being displaced.

How will you support retiring business owners to ensure local businesses remain open & locally owned, and?

Retiring business owners often struggle to transition their businesses to the next generation due to red tape and a lack of accessible financing options. Over the next decade, it’s expected that over 70% of Canadian small business owners want to retire.  Instead of selling to private equity, it benefits everyone in Canada to keep these businesses locally owned.  Every dollar spent at a local business gets circulated 2-4x more than that same dollar spent at a chain.

BWA’s proposed NextGen Ownership Fund aims to simplify these transitions through programs like Entrepreneurship Through Acquisition, Corporate to Worker Co-Op conversions, and Employee Ownership Trusts, which keep businesses local and jobs secure. Ask your MPP how they’ll ensure retiring business owners can pass their legacies to local successors.

The next government can revitalize local business assets, jobs and innovation – let’s give them the mandate


Your most important move is to vote
– and secondly, to ask candidates what their plan is to make it easier to run a small business in Ontario. By doing this, you put small businesses on their radar and make them a priority for the next provincial government. 

We believe Ontario can be a leader in innovation, productivity, and good jobs – especially during a time of economic uncertainty –  with a government that supports small businesses.

Photo Credit: bluebird provisions

Quotes and Further Info

The Better Way Alliance is Canada’s only national business focused on both policy and marketplace solutions to quickly changing commercial real estate & rental markets.

The Commercial Renter Bill of Rights is a policy idea guide for provincial governments to consider while updating Commercial Tenancy Acts.  Commercial renters have zero rights in negotiations, and as the commercial real estate market has consolidated, small business owners are often negotiating against multi-billion dollar companies.

The Bill of Rights offers governments a way to level the playing field and reduce red-tape between tenants and landlords.

For Ontario’s locally owned businesses, the status quo doesn’t cut it. This election is survival or surrender. With trade pressures mounting, we need creative, bold policies that secure our economic future.

There’s no runway left for incremental change. The next government must adopt bold market and capital measures to secure Ontario’s business ecosystem.”

Liliana Camacho, Knowledge Director at the Better Way Alliance

“Ontario can lead the continent in innovation, productivity, and quality job creation in uncertain times with a government that prioritizes creative policy for small businesses.

Bold political leadership can ensure an Ontario business ecosystem built to last. We encourage voters to identify and elect candidates who will champion creative & long-term solutions for locally owned businesses that drive Ontario’s long-term success.”

Aaron Binder, Communications Director at the Better Way Alliance