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August 31, 2026SURVEY ON BUSINESS CONDITIONS: Q3 2026 Statistics Canada has conducted its final iteration of the Canadian Survey on Business Conditions. In July and early August, Statistics Canada surveyed businesses to collect information on businesses' expectations, obstacles, plans and practices. There were additional questions in this iteration about business plans for adoption artificial intelligence.
The results reported here are a selection of the impacts found for Nova Scotia businesses, by industry, by size of business (measured by number of employees), by age of business and by urban or rural location. There are comparisons of the Nova Scotia average (all industries, ages, sizes, locations) with the national and provincial averages. The horizontal axis in all charts measures the share of businesses reporting each outcome. The total for many outcomes does not add to 100% of respondent businesses as many replied that the outcome was not applicable in their circumstances, or data were suppressed.
Future outlook over the next 12 months
In Nova Scotia, 33.0% of businesses were very optimistic about the next 12 months; a further 49.4% were somewhat optimistic, 6.2% were somewhat pessimistic and 1.3% were very pessimistic. Business optimism was lower at the national level, with lower optimism in British Columbia, Ontario and Saskatchewan.
Business expectations for the next three months
The outlook for employment was stable for 80.2% of Nova Scotia businesses in the next three months. Rising employment is expected among 9.4% of Nova Scotia businesses while declining employment is expected by 10.5% of Nova Scotia businesses.
Most businesses in Nova Scotia (56.9%) expect stable job vacancies with more expecting increasing vacancies (5.3%) than declining vacancies (3.9%).
The majority of businesses in Nova Scotia (70.4%) expect stable sales while 16.5% expect rising sales and 9.3% expect declining sales.
Prices are expected to be stable for 69.2% of Nova Scotia businesses while 23.6% expect rising prices, a decline from the prior quarter. A further 3.6% of Nova Scotia businesses expect declining prices.
Over two-thirds (72.7%) of Nova Scotia businesses expect stable demand while 18.8% expect increasing demand and 8.5% expect declining demand.
Stable profitability is expected by 67.6% of Nova Scotia businesses. Expectations of falling profitability (19.7%) outweighed expectations of rising profitability (9.9%).
Rising operating income is expected by 16.5% of Nova Scotia businesses while higher operating expenditures are expected by 35.3% of Nova Scotia businesses. Stable operating income is expected by 69.2% of Nova Scotia businesses. Stable operating expenditures were expected by 58.2% of Nova Scotia businesses. Declining operating revenues are expected by 14.3% of Nova Scotia businesses while only 6.4% expect declining operating expenses.
Cash reserves are expected to remain stable for 62.9% of Nova Scotia businesses while 9.5% expect rising cash reservices and 18.6% expect falling cash reserves.
Capital expenditures are expected to be stable for 59.1% of Nova Scotia businesses; rising for 19.4% and falling for 7.6%.
Training expenditures are expected to be stable for 59.2% of Nova Scotia businesses while 9.8% expect higher expenditures on training and 3.2% expect lower expenditures on training.
Just over half of businesses in Nova Scotia (51.5%) expect stable marketing expenditures in the next three months while 11.5% expect rising marketing expenditures and 4.3% anticipate falling marketing/advertising spending.
Although research and development (R&D) expenditures are not relevant for the majority of businesses (61.4%), most businesses that conduct R&D expect stable spending (30.4%) in the next three months.
Although few Nova Scotia businesses participate directly in international trade, the majority of these expect stable imports and exports in the next three months.
Obstacles for businesses
As part of the Survey of Business Conditions, businesses were asked about their obstacles. Among Nova Scotia businesses, 28.0% reported no substantial obstacles expected in the next three months (up from 23.7% in the previous quarter). Across Canada, 24.5% of businesses reported no obstacles.
When asked what was the one most pressing obstacle for Nova Scotia businesses (across all industries), recruiting skilled employees (7.7%), cost of inputs (7.5%) and inflation (12.2%) were the most widely reported.
The most acutely-felt obstacles in Q3 2026 were cost-related. Obstacles in this category were reported by 62.6% of Nova Scotia businesses. General inflation (38.9%), input costs (26.9%) and transportation (24.4%) were the most widely reported cost obstacles.
Labour-related obstacles were reported by 31.0% of Nova Scotia businesses, including: labour force shortages (19.2%) as well as recruiting (24.0%) and retaining (16.8%) skilled employees.
Supply-chain issues were reported as business obstacles by 12.2% of Nova Scotia's businesses.
Market conditions, such as insufficient demand (8.7%), fluctuating demand (20.7%), attracting new customers (14.0%) and increasing competition (16.2%) were also somewhat frequently reported obstacles for Nova Scotia businesses.
Exporting to other provinces (3.3%) and other countries (2.3%) were less frequently cited obstacles, considering that many Nova Scotia businesses do not participate in interprovincial or international trade.
Lack of financial resources (10.5%) and cash flow/debt management (14.8%) were more frequently-cited financial obstacles than attracting investment.
Regulatory constraints were cited as an obstacle by 14.5% of Nova Scotia businesses.
Technological limitations were an infrequently-noted business obstacle (4.8%).
Financial conditions
In Nova Scotia, 86.2% of businesses reported having sufficient cash or liquid assets needed for operations. This was above the national average (75.8%).
Most businesses in Nova Scotia (80.7%) report that they could take on more debt if needed. This was higher than the national share (66.1%).
Artificial intelligence
Businesses were asked about their plans to use artificial intelligence (AI) in producing goods and services in the next 12 months. In Nova Scotia, 20.1% of businesses reported that they were planning to use AI tools, with notably greater concentration in knowledge-intensive service industries: information/cultural, finance/insurance, professional/technical services, and arts/recreation. Across Canada, 25.2% of businesses plan to use AI, with notably higher use among businesses in British Columbia and Québec.
Across the country and in Nova Scotia, most businesses expect no change in employment due to AI use. In Nova Scotia, 10.6% of businesses expect an increase in employment while 11.8% expect a decline, while 9.7% reported being unsure of the impact on employment.
Across all businesses that reported plans to use AI, Nova Scotia businesses were more likely than other provinces to adopt AI technologies in machine learning, virtual agents/chat bots, speech recognition, recommendation systems, large language models, decision-making systems, deep learning and marketing automation.
Most businesses in Nova Scotia (58.6%) reported they did not plan to use AI over the next 12 months.
Among Nova Scotia businesses that reported they planned to use AI tools in the next 12 months, most reported they planned to train current staff to use AI, develop new workflows, purchase cloud services/storage, change data collection/management practices, and use vendors/consulting to install or integrate AI.
Of Nova Scotian businesses that reported they would not be using AI tools in the next 12 months, the most common reasons after not relevant (78%) were lack of knowledge on the capabilities of AI, concerns about privacy/security, and belief that the technology was not mature enough yet.
Source: Statistics Canada. Table 33-10-1214-01 Future outlook over the next 12 months, third quarter of 2026; Table 33-10-1177-01 Business or organization expectations over the next three months, third quarter of 2026; Table 33-10-1179-01 Business or organization obstacles over the next three months, third quarter of 2026; Table 33-10-1180-01 Most challenging obstacle expected by the business or organization over the next three months, third quarter of 2026; Table 33-10-1211-01 Liquidity and access to liquidity over the next three months, third quarter of 2026; Table 33-10-1213-01 Ability for the business or organization to take on more debt, third quarter of 2026; Table 33-10-1207-01 Use of artificial intelligence by businesses or organizations in producing goods or delivering services over the next 12 months, third quarter of 2026; Table 33-10-1208-01 Reasons business or organization does not plan to use artificial intelligence in producing goods or delivering services over the next 12 months, third quarter of 2026; Table 33-10-1209-01 Business's or organization's expectation of the impact of artificial intelligence use on total employment, third quarter of 2026 Table 33-10-1210-01 Changes businesses or organizations will make when using artificial intelligence to produce goods or deliver services, third quarter of 2026
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