The biggest difference is how far and for how long governments have needed to lock down the business community. Of course, Atlantic Canada took a different approach by basically sealing off the borders quickly and then preventing much of the lockdown that might otherwise have been necessary. It's not that they haven't used them at all, but most Atlantic provinces have had to use lockdowns of short duration for some sectors of the economy, which has lessened—not eliminated, of course—the impact on some of those factors.
The biggest effect on those provinces that have had to use wide-scale and long-term lockdowns.... Just to give a bit of colour here, Toronto and Peel now have likely—and I stand to be corrected on this—the longest lockdowns in North America. Businesses have been locked down, depending on the sector, for 220 days since the pandemic began. Ontario has been the worst-responding province in the country by about a mile in terms of addressing the impact of COVID-19 and protecting small and medium-sized businesses from the problems. It's been one of the only provinces that has also allowed big box stores to remain open while shutting down small firms, which is a policy I can't understand.
The Ford government should be deeply ashamed of itself for the way it's treated the small business community.