Kanata, Ontario

What Kanata is made of: the communities whose institutions are here, the sectors its 1,349 businesses sit in, the franchises already on the ground, and the services a newcomer could start.

1,349 businesses on file · 103 trades · 33 sectors · registry population 98,938 · built from geonet.ottawa on 2026-10-07

Businesses1,349
72% carry coordinates
Specialised in12
trades above the national pattern
Places of worship18
Franchise brands66
already operating here

Visiting rather than moving? The free guidebook for Kanata → — the free guidebook for this region: why go, what to see, what is open when it rains.

1

The local economy

What the business base is made of, what it is specialised in against the national pattern, and what that mix implies. This is the part a development office would read first.

Composition, not health. geonet records what trades exist and where; it does not record formation, closure, employment or revenue, so none of those appear here. What makes this economics rather than a directory is the NAICS coding: it lets the local mix be read against the BLS survival curves and against the 323 industry groups this research has screened.

The two biggest markets here

Every industry group on this page links through to its NAICS page, and to the screened market report where this research has one — that is what the trait-to-NAICS coding buys.

Business density13.6
businesses per 1,000 residents, against the registry population of 98,938
Breadth of the base354
broad — 73 industry groups, top three 22.8%
Survival the mix implies55.4%
at five years, against 51.4% for all private establishments
Coded to NAICS60.3%
of which 69.5% unambiguous

What this city is specialised in

Location quotient is this city's share of a trade divided by the same share across 10 CA metro tables. Above 1.25 is the conventional threshold for a local specialisation.

The base against the entry screen

Businesses by the entry signal of the industry group they sit in, from the /markets screen. A large "structure decides" share means most local trades are ones where being better than the incumbent does not by itself win. A trade is matched to the screened record at whatever level the research wrote it — the same code, a broader one, or a narrower one. Where a group holds several screened sub-markets the count is shown, because no single one of them speaks for the whole group.

Enter
17.8%
145 businesses
Caution
52.8%
430 businesses
Structure decides
29.4%
239 businesses
Not screened
0%
0 businesses

How to read the survival figure

Each sector's five-year establishment survival rate, weighted by how many of this city's businesses sit in that sector. It is a property of the MIX, not of these businesses — it says what survival this composition would imply at US private-sector rates, because no Canadian equivalent series exists.

Weighted over 98.6% of the coded base — public administration carries no curve. Source: Business Employment Dynamics — Table 7, Survival of private sector establishments by opening year, US Bureau of Labor Statistics.

And what it does not measure

A "mixed" trait is one that genuinely spans codes — "computers" covers systems design, repair and supply. The clear share is how much of this reading rests on unambiguous coding. Business density also reflects how completely the directory covers a place, not only how many businesses are in it — so it compares poorly between a city the register knows well and one it does not.

2

Who lives here, and who the city is for

The census: the only figures on this page that count people rather than businesses, and the three cohort readings they make possible.

No census subdivision is mapped for ca-kanata in local/census-map.json, so this page carries no census figures. The mapping is kept explicit because Canada has several places called London, Toronto and Kelowna, and attaching the wrong one would put another city's demographics on this page.

3

The communities the register shows

A community appears in the business register before it appears in prose — a national church, a society, a credit union, a newspaper. Those are counted as institutions, and they are what suggests residents. A restaurant serving a cuisine is counted separately as trade, because every city has those and they say nothing about who lives nearby. The ranking is by institutions.

CommunityInstitutions WorshipTrade Where it shows
Russian 1 1 —
St Xenia Russian Orthodox Chr
Chinese — — 2
Greek — — 2
trade on Hazeldean Rd (2)
Italian — — 2
Japanese — — 1
Swiss — — 1
French — — 1
Scottish — — 1
4

Where the communities are

Streets, not neighbourhood names. The data knows that Greek institutions sit on one street and Greek restaurants on another; it does not know the word "Greektown", so it does not use it.

5

What the city is made of

Every business on file, grouped by the sector it trades in. This is the economic-development view: where the 1,349 businesses actually are, and the specific trades inside each sector.

SectorBusinesses ShareWhat is in it
Tech 101 7.5% computers (77) · telecom (19) · wireless (3)
Health 83 6.2% physician (28) · medical clinic (10) · pharmacy (10) · chiro (10) · optical (6) · health foods (2) · fitness club (2)
Dining 75 5.6% restaurant (50) · pizza (13) · fast food (6) · pubs (4) · steakhouse (1) · diner (1)
Living 73 5.4% cleaning (18) · place of worship (18) · daycare (11) · furniture (6) · apartment (5) · swimming pools (4) · veterinary (4) · janitor (3)
Beauty 68 5% hair stylist (31) · dentist (26) · barber (2)
Construction 64 4.7% general contractor (20) · home builder (10) · electrician (9) · painting (7) · plumbing (4) · roofing (4) · heating and cooling (4) · excavating (3)
Business 58 4.3% consulting (19) · association (16) · accounting (10) · government (10)
Retail 57 4.2% department store (22) · gifts (11) · convenience (7) · photography (6) · flowers (6) · jeweler (3) · toys (1) · restaurant supplier (1)
Finance 48 3.6% bank (29) · insurance (12) · loans (2) · stock broker (1) · mortgage (1)
Education 43 3.2% school (35) · library (3) · garden (2) · writing (1)
Living & Home 39 2.9%
Retail Goods 26 1.9%
Manufacturing 25 1.9% industrial supplier (21) · machinery (4)
Food & Beverage 24 1.8% fruit (1)
Travel 21 1.6% travel agent (13) · hotel (3) · motel (2) · parking (1)
Food 20 1.5% grocer (7) · catering (5) · baker (5) · ice cream (2) · seafood (1)
Entertainment 19 1.4% video (5) · video producer (5) · games (4) · nightclub (2) · aquarium (1) · music instruments (1)
Automotive 18 1.3% autos (13) · tires (2) · auto repair (1)
Realty 16 1.2% real estate (16)
Construction & Realty 16 1.2%
6

The franchises already here

Brands from a register of 2,024 franchise systems, matched into this city by name. A high count is a signal in both directions: the territory works, and it may be taken.

19 of these brands are a single common word — Metro, Avenue, Budget — so their counts include businesses that merely share the word. They are marked rather than dropped.

BrandCategory HereWorldwide
Buck or Two retail 2 139
Burger King fastfood 2 11,000
Canadian Tire retail 2 455
Dairy Queen fastfood 2 5,900
Food Basics supermarket 2 114
Gabriel Pizza pizza 2 19
Quickie Convenience convenience 2 47
Sleep Country retail 2 119
1-for-1 Pizza pizza 1 15
Blockbuster Video video 1 5,900
Booster Juice dessert 1 150
Boston Pizza pizza 1 250
Bulk Barn retail 1 100
Buns Master Bakery coffee 1 29
Color Your World retail 1 98
Comfort Inn familyhotel 1 —
Computer Troubleshooters specialty 1 440
Cotton Ginny retail 1 —
Curves For Women fitness 1 10,000
Danier Leather retail 1 —
East Side Marios food 1 100
Edward Jones Investments tax 1 —
Extreme Pita deli 1 174
Frisby Tire auto 1 5
Great Canadian Bagel deli 1 48
Hakim Optical specialty 1 124
Home Depot home 1 2,104
Home Hardware home 1 1,000
Laura Secord dessert 1 —
Lone Star Texas Grill food 1 12
Minute Muffler auto 1 —
Northern Reflections retail 1 150
Oxford Learning school 1 140
Pet Valu pet 1 300
Pizza Hut pizza 1 10,000
Print Three post 1 58
Rogers Video video 1 300
Royal Bank bank 1 —
Royal Canadian Legion club 1 160
Shoppers Drug Mart pharmacy 1 927
Source For Sports retail 1 150
Super Pet pet 1 25
Swiss Chalet fastfood 1 190
Tim Hortons coffee 1 2,890
Wal-Mart retail 1 6,500
Wine Kitz liquor 1 —
Wine Rack liquor 1 160
Limited name only retail 11 —
Loblaws name only supermarket 4 50
ScotiaBank name only bank 4 —
CIBC name only bank 3 —
Sears name only inc 3 2,300
Hallmark name only greetingcards 2 5,600
LCBO name only spirits 2 600
Loeb name only supermarket 2 35
Manor name only retail 2 —
AllState name only insurance 1 —
Champion name only supermarket 1 1,000
Diana name only supermarket 1 3
Fabricland name only retail 1 170
Greyhound name only travel 1 —
HSBC name only bank 1 —
Jacob name only retail 1 200
Sobeys name only supermarket 1 224
Starbucks name only coffee 1 3,500
Zellers name only retail 1 —
7

Real estate as a local trade

Four unrelated jobs share the name: selling existing homes, owning and letting them, managing them for someone else, and building new ones. For anyone weighing a move or a licence these are the counts — and the ownership question goes to /property, which answers it building by building.

Real estate is a local job market in its own right, and four unrelated trades get the same name. Counts are businesses filed under each trade in the register, which lists a brokerage once however many agents work there — so this measures firms, not licensees.

Selling homes

5312
16 firms · LQ 0.85

Offices of agents and brokers — the resale market, and the biggest single trade in most Canadian cities.

Named in the register
  • Bottriell and Association Engineering — 1131 Teron Rd
  • Burke Bus Lines — RR 1
  • C B Richard Ellis — 300 March Rd
  • Gale Real Estate — 591 March Rd
  • Grape Vine Home Marketing — 8 Piper Cres
  • Gwl Realty Advisors — 300 March Rd
  • Minto Developments — Morgan's Grant Way
  • Olympia Homes — 60 Castle Glen Cres
  • Progeny Management — 260 Hearst Way
  • Roi Properties — 260 Hearst Way
  • Royal Le Page Real Estate — 150 Katimavik Rd
  • Sanrock Holdings — 329 March Rd
  • Sun Life Financial — 300 Eagleson Rd
  • Teron — 350 Terry Fox Dr

Owning and letting

5311
5 firms · LQ 0.78

Lessors of real estate: the buildings themselves, filed under the building rather than the owner.

Named in the register
  • Homestead Land Holdings — 7307 Campeau Dr
  • Hungerford Park — 4000 Hungerford Gate
  • Stonewick Heights — 9 MacNeil Court
  • Urbandale — 62 Cedarock Drive
  • Urbandale — 323 Steeple Chase Dr

Building new homes

2361
30 firms · LQ 1.94

Residential builders and the general contractors who work for them.

Named in the register
  • Ashcroft Homes — 23 Shirley's Brook Drive
  • Cardel Homes — 70 Broughton St
  • Cardel Homes — 71 Walden Dr
  • Claridge Homes — Briar Ridge
  • Claridge Homes — 1 Stikine Dr
  • Ledcor Industries — 555 Legget Dr
  • Monarch Construction — 92 Morenz Terr
  • Monarch Construction — 80 Morenz Terrace
  • Richcraft Homes — 42 Kenins Cres
  • Tamarack — 100 Pine Hill Dr
  • Tamarack Developments — 3 Thunderbird Cres
  • Urbandale Construction Limited — 11 Saddlesmith Circle
  • Valecraft Homes — 1 Forillon Cres
  • Vandenberg Ralph Architect — 160 Flamborough Way

Financing it

5222
3 firms · LQ 2.3

Mortgage brokers and non-bank lenders.

Named in the register
  • Citi Financial — 474 Hazeldean Rd
  • Finance Depot — 1120 March Rd
  • Kanata Computing Service — 1625 Dunrobin Rd

Who actually owns it

The full property record →

From the /property research for this city, which asks a different question: not who trades in property here, but who owns it. An owner is named there only where a document says so. Ottawa governs; Ontario title $37.10 a parcel, no bulk, no open roll, no prices.

Landowners

  • Wesley Clover International Corporation — 30 commercial buildings (~3M sq ft), a 276-room hotel and an 18-hole golf club
  • National Capital Commission — 44.99 ha across 2 Stoney Swamp parcels

Homebuilders

  • Mattamy (Kanata West) Limited — 577
  • Claridge Homes (Bridlewood Trails) Inc. and Phase 3 — 544 (332 and 212)
  • Glenview (Kanata) Holdings Limited — 338
  • Minto (Hazeldean) LP — 221
  • Metric Homes (Ottawa) Inc. — 162
  • Uniform March Road Ltd. — 87

Commercial landlords

  • KRP Properties (Wesley Clover International Corporation) — 30 buildings, about 3M rentable sq ft (28 enumerated at 2,677,128 RSF)
  • RioCan Real Estate Investment Trust — 386,336 sq ft (Kanata Centrum, 35 units) and 108,562 sq ft (RioCentre Kanata, 16 units)
  • The Regional Group of Companies — 223,000 sq ft (Hazeldean Mall)
  • Government of Canada — 1,875 m² leased in 3 Kanata North buildings; 44.99 ha of NCC land
  • 700, 750, 770 and 800 Palladium Drive — owner not established — about 100,000 sq ft (800 Palladium) plus three further buildings

9 marquee buildings examined, 7 with an owner established.

On "how many doors"

How many doors a landlord holds is not in any of this. The register files an apartment building under the building, not its owner, and carries no unit count; there is no open dataset of Canadian landlords by portfolio. Where this research has established ownership it is in the /property record for the city, building by building, which is a different and much slower exercise.

8

Work where you go to them

The Ultimate 411 half of local: everything where the customer does not have to come to you.

A shop needs the customer to walk in. These 157 services do the opposite — the mobile mechanic, the mobile groomer, the bookkeeper, the junk haul — and they are the ones a person can start without a lease. 0 of them already match a trait filed in this city's register.

The 157 Service=1 rows in search.local: work where the provider travels to the customer. "present" counts businesses already filed under that exact trait name; a blank is a coverage gap, not proof of absence, because the two vocabularies were built separately.

home services

Short-Term Rental TurnoverAppliance InstallationBabyproofing & Safety InstallsCarpet & Upholstery CleaningDeep CleaningDrywall RepairErrand RunningExterior PaintingFence & Deck StainingFurniture AssemblyGarden Weeding & MaintenanceGrocery Pickup & DeliveryGutter CleaningHandyman (General Repairs)Hedge & Shrub TrimmingHouse CleaningHouse SittingInterior PaintingJunk Removal & Dump RunsLandscape Design & PlantingLawn MowingFall Leaf CleanupMove-In / Move-Out CleaningMoving Help (Labour Only)Moving with TruckOffice CleaningPersonal ShopperPressure WashingMove Things Around the HouseSnow Shovelling & RemovalPacking & UnpackingTV & Picture MountingWardrobe StylingWindow Cleaning

events

BartenderDesignated Driver (Your Car)CateringTents, Tables & ChairsFloristFuneral & Celebration of Life ArrangementsGame-Day Bus or VanBook a Pub for Your GroupKaraoke Machine RentalParty Bus & Group ShuttlePub Crawl HostTaxi to the PubSports & Game PhotographyStag & Doe / Jack & Jill PlanningTailgate Party SetupTrivia Night HostVenue SourcingBig-Game Watch Party SetupWedding OfficiantWedding Planner / Coordinator

pets

Aquarium & Terrarium CleaningCatio (Cat Patio) BuildChicken Coop BuildDog House BuildDog TrainingDog WalkingHome Pet BoardingLost Pet SearchMobile Dog GroomingOvernight Pet SittingBuild & Install a Pet DoorPet Cages & EnclosuresPet Fencing & Dog RunsPet PhotographyPet-Proofing Your HomePet Sitting & Dog WalkingPet TaxiYard Poop Scooping

luxury

Chauffeur & Luxury CarDJ & Sound Gear RentalDJEvent PhotographerEvent PlannerLive MusiciansHair & Makeup ArtistMatchmakerPersonal ConciergePortrait & Headshot PhotographerPrivate ChefVideographerVIP / Social Club MembershipWedding PhotographerYacht & Boat Charter

healthcare

Wheelchair-Accessible TransportGrab Bars, Ramps & Home AccessibilityLight Housekeeping for SeniorsCooking & Meal Prep for SeniorsMedical Appointment EscortMedication & Appointment RemindersMobility Equipment RentalRespite Care for Family CaregiversSenior CompanionshipTech Help for SeniorsWalking Companion

sporting goods

Bike Tune-UpBorrow a Bike or E-BikeBorrow Camping GearBorrow Golf ClubsBorrow Hockey GearBorrow Ice SkatesBorrow a Kayak, Canoe or PaddleboardBorrow Skis, Poles & Ski BootsBorrow a Snowboard & Snow BootsSkate SharpeningSki & Snowboard Tuning

sports

Backyard Rink BuildLocal Fishing GuideGolf CaddieFind Players for a Pickup GamePrivate Sports LessonJoin or Build a Rec League TeamBook Ice, Courts & FieldsWorkout & Sports BuddyRoommates Who Also Like Sports

business

BookkeepingStart a Local BusinessCareer Coaching & RésumésFind a Local ManufacturerFind Local Work / Contract GigsLocal Advertising PlacementPrototype & Small-Batch ProductionTranslation & InterpretationWebsite & Online Presence

outdoors

Brush & Land ClearingChainsaw Rental (from a local owner)Firewood (Cut, Split & Delivered)Log Bucking & Cutting (Chainsaw)Portable SawmillingSmall-Lot Logging & Land ClearingStump GrindingTree FellingWood Splitting

construction

CarpenterElectricianHeating & Cooling (HVAC)Mobile MechanicPlumberRoof RepairSmall Engine RepairWelder / Metal Fabrication

travel

Airport Transfer & Car ServiceCorporate & Business TravelCruise BookingFamily Travel for a WeddingBereavement / Funeral TravelLeisure Travel PlanningLocal Tour Guide

tools

Camera & Lens RentalGenerator RentalLog Splitter RentalParty Equipment RentalPower Tool RentalTrailer & Truck Rental
9

Schools and colleges

wander.schools is a post-secondary table — universities and colleges. K-12 public and private schools are not in it, and only 7 of its 1,686 rows carry coordinates, so these are listed and not mapped.

In the business register

Where schooling shows up as a business rather than an institution — which is where K-12, tutoring and childcare appear.

school 35daycare 11
10

Health and care

What a person moving a parent here would ask first. The register files clinics and pharmacies; it has no category for a hospital at all, so hospitals are matched by name and the limit is stated rather than hidden.

Medical clinics10
Pharmacies10
Dental practices26

Matched on the name "hospital"

  • March Road Veterinary Hospital — 591 March Rd
  • Bridlewood Animal Hospital — 701 Eagleson Rd

geonet carries no 'hospital' trait, so these are matched on the business name. A distance-to-hospital figure needs a source that states hospital locations.

11

Mayor & politics

Who holds office here and who is asking to, from the official lists on /politics: the council, the riding’s Member of Parliament and the provincial member. Each name opens its row there.

Mayor
3 on council
Member of Parliament
Jenna Sudds ✉️ · Liberal
Kanata
Member of Provincial Parliament
Tyler Watt · Liberal
Nepean
On the ballot
21 candidates
votes 2026-10-26

Everyone who represents Kanata, and everyone running →

Realtors in Ottawa — the brokerages and licensed agents to call → (Kanata is served from Ottawa)

12

What this record cannot tell you

Named in full, because the gaps are the part most likely to be misread as an answer.

  • No census figures on this page: this region is not mapped to a census subdivision in local/census-map.json, so the community counts here are business-register institutions, which is a different measurement and cannot substitute for a population.
  • wander.schools is now readable, but it holds universities and colleges only and 1,679 of its 1,686 rows have no coordinates. K-12 public and private schools need a separate source — in Ontario the Ministry of Education school finder, in British Columbia the provincial school list. wander.citytowns, hotels and territories remain denied to the ru user.
  • No 'hospital' trait exists in geonet; distance to a hospital needs an external source such as StatCan's Open Database of Healthcare Facilities.
  • 28.5% of businesses here carry no coordinates, so a map or address lookup would miss them. Postal codes reach 96.4%.

Built from

  • geonet.ottawa — the local business register
  • wander.regions — city name, population, metro
  • search.local — trait vocabulary and the come-to-you services
  • search.cozfranchises — 2,024 franchise brands