Statistics Canada says the economy remained flat in October for the third straight month as services-producing industries edged 0.1 percent higher, while goods-producing industries were unchanged.
It also forecasts that real gross domestic product for November increased 0.1 percent, with estimated gains in manufacturing, transportation and warehousing, and agriculture, forestry, fishing and hunting partially offset by decreases in retail trade.
StatCan says that for October, the manufacturing sector declined 0.6 percent and wholesale trade contracted 0.7 percent, while retail trade grew 1.2 percent and mining, quarrying and oil and gas extraction saw a one percent gain.
It says the transportation and warehousing sector declined 0.2 percent in October as the St. Lawrence Seaway strike decreased activity in some transportation subsectors.
That included a 3.7 percent contraction in water transportation, which was down for the first time since the B.C. port strike in July, while trucking transportation was down 0.9 percent as many trucks poised to carry grain were sidelined during the work stoppage.
Real estate agent and broker activities were down 6.8 percent in October, the largest monthly decrease since April 2022, as StatCan says a majority of Canada’s largest housing markets continued to cool off.
