Parklands’ business story is not one of rapid expansion. It is a story of recovery. After several years of decline, the region’s business base has started to rebuild. By 2025, Parklands had 6,718 business establishments, slightly above where it stood before the downturn. That may sound modest, but for a smaller regional economy, returning to growth after a period of contraction is an important signal.
Figure 1. Parklands’ business establishment count declined through the early 2020s before rebounding in 2024 and 2025.
That may sound modest, but for a smaller regional economy, returning to growth after a period of contraction is an important signal.
What happened after 2018?
Parklands began the period with 6,593 business establishments in 2018. The count rose slightly to 6,651 in 2019, before the region entered a more difficult stretch. By 2021, the number of establishments had fallen to 6,358, a 3.2% drop from the previous year. The decline continued into 2023, when the count reached 6,187. At that point, Parklands was 6.2% below where it had been five years earlier.
The rebound came quickly
The turnaround began in 2024. Business establishments rose to 6,574 that year, a 6.3% increase. Growth continued in 2025, with the count rising another 2.2% to reach 6,718 establishments. Here’s what stands out: Parklands did not just stop the decline. It moved back above its earlier level, ending 2025 with more business establishments than it had in 2018. Over the five-year period from 2020 to 2025, the region recorded a net increase of 2.3%.
Trend to watch: Parklands’ business base has recovered, but the pace suggests consolidation rather than a major growth surge.
How does Parklands compare with Southeast?
Figure 2. Parklands remains a mid-sized business region in Manitoba, with fewer establishments than Southeast, Southwest, and Winnipeg, but more than North and North Central.
The comparison with Southeast shows how different regional recoveries can look. Southeast had 12,778 business establishments in 2023, then expanded sharply. It grew by 9.1% in 2024 and another 3.3% in 2025, reaching 14,406 establishments.
Over five years, Southeast posted a 42.3% increase in business counts. Parklands, by comparison, grew by 2.3% over the same period. Both regions moved through earlier downturns, but Southeast’s rebound was much larger in both size and pace.
A recovery, not a boom
Parklands appears to be rebuilding its business base in a measured way.
The recent gains suggest renewed business formation, reactivation, or stabilization after earlier losses. But the scale of growth remains modest compared with faster-growing regions.
That distinction matters. A rising establishment count is a positive sign, but it does not automatically mean the region is experiencing a broad business boom.
What the numbers do—and do not—tell us
These figures count business establishments, including those without employees. They do not show whether the businesses are large or small, growing or shrinking, new or long-established.
A higher count could reflect new small firms entering the market. It could also mask changes in business size, employment, or sector mix.
Even with those limits, the direction is encouraging. Parklands ended the period with more business establishments than five years earlier, showing that the region has regained some momentum after a period of contraction.
The next question is whether that recovery can deepen into stronger, more sustained business growth across the region.
Data source: Statistics Canada, Business Register.