Municipal governments have a key role in cultivating an environment where businesses can thrive, and are responsible for shaping the local regulatory environment in which that businesses operate in. The regulatory environment includes taxes, laws, and other regulations that governing businesses' activities in starting and operating a business. The regulatory environment of a municipality influences how competitive the city is for businesses. The impetus for this research is to provide Calgary's

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... economic development agency, Calgary Economic Development, with an overview of Calgary's business competitiveness. This report assess the competitiveness of Calgary's regulatory environment and answers the question: how does Calgary's regulatory environment compare to other Canadian municipalities? The ease of doing business (defined as the ease of starting and operating a business) is one consideration for headquarter and operation location choice. Businesses can choose to leave a municipality or not enter at all when the cost of starting and operating a business is high. In the wake of several businesses leaving Calgary, it is important to assess the impact of Calgary's regulatory environment on the ease of doing business. To answer the research question, this report quantitatively assesses Calgary's performance across seven indicators and associated metrics from the perspective of small and medium enterprises (SMEs). Calgary's performance is compared to other major Canadian municipalities (Edmonton, Halifax, London, Montreal, Regina, Toronto, Vancouver, and Winnipeg). Rather than present an overall score for each municipality, the municipalities' performance on each metric is directly compared to identify areas where Calgary could improve.