Guelph's business conditions seem to stack up very well against some of the largest urban centres in Canada.
Statistics Canada recently added Guelph to a list of 25 large urban centres to its weekly real-time local business conditions index, which they call "an experimental statistic to measure business activity in real time during the COVID-19 pandemic and beyond," and dates back as far as Aug. 2020.
Guelph's index for the week of Aug. 15 to 21 was 337.47, measuring much higher than cities like Toronto (211.01), Montreal (233.57) and Vancouver (209.86).
The only city with a higher index than Guelph that week was Regina (345.22).
Like many, Guelph saw their numbers go up and down over the last couple years, but have been around the 300.00 mark and above since early July.
Every city index started at a base of 100.00 on Aug. 10, 2020.
The index uses three components for their data formula: the economic size of a business district, operating conditions of businesses in an area, and level of activity based on road traffic data.
Statistics Canada said as the number goes up week-to-week, the better business conditions are in the city.
If the index goes down, it indicates deteriorating business conditions.
You can see the interactive index here.
