By Jamie Barrie T he sunny days of summer are not the only thing that left Canadians in August, so did the country’s economy. Statistics Canada reported the country’s economy shrank by 0.1 percent in August as declines in oil and gas and manufacturing sectors more than offset the small gains in other industries. According to Statistics Canada data the manufacturing sector posting its biggest one month decline in almost 20 years, making it more important than ever for small and medium sized businesses to continue to invest and grow as this was the first monthly contraction for the Canadian economy overall since October 2016. According to Bank of Montreal economist, Doug Porter, “The run of amazing Canadian economic data is officially over, with growth coming back to reality in a hurry.” This was not good news for the Canadian loonie as it continues to lose value against the U.S. dollar, which was hitting some highs as of late.
The news doesn’t get much better for the oil and gas sector as growth was down again, making it the third month in a row that this industry saw negative expansion.
The crown jewel of the Canadian economy is the service sector, which squeaked out a small gain of 0.1 percent, continuing the sectors 17 consecutive months of expansion.
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SPOTLIGHT ON BUSINESS MAGAZINE • NOVEMBER 2017
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