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Canadians have a global reputation for being nice. Even our legal system reflects our affinity for kindness. In 2009 Ontario passed the Apology Act, which states that apologizing at the time of an incident is not an admission of fault or liability.

So naturally, after ranking the the most polite small business owners in America, the FreshBooks Data and Insights team decided to bring the competition closer to home by applying the same logic to Canadian small business owners.

To determine the ranking, FreshBooks analyzed over 250,000 invoices to uncover which small business owners (by province/territory) are the most likely to use please or thank you on their invoices.

Without any further ado, here are your Canadian provinces and territories in order of politeness:

*Note: Insufficient sample size for Nunavut

1. New Brunswick 15%
2. Prince Edward Island 12%
3. British Columbia 10%
4. Alberta 9%
5. Ontario 9%
6. Nova Scotia 8%
7. Quebec 7%
8. Saskatchewan 7%
9. Newfoundland and Labrador 6%
10. Northwest Territories 6%
11. Manitoba 6%
12. Yukon 4%

Remember: Invoices that use please and thank you get paid a median of two days faster than invoices that don’t, so mind your manners!

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