Real gross domestic product in Canada edged down 0.1 per cent in November, partly offsetting an increase of 0.3 per cent in October, reported Statistics Canada on Thursday.

“Decreases in wholesale trade, finance and insurance, manufacturing and construction more than offset gains in 13 of 20 industrial sectors. Goods-producing industries were down 0.3 per cent, the third decline in four months, while services-producing industries were essentially unchanged,” said the federal agency.

StatsCan said the mining, quarrying and oil and gas extraction sector edged down 0.1 per cent in November, as increases in mining excluding oil and gas extraction and supporting activities were more than offset by a reduction in oil and gas extraction.

“Mining excluding oil and gas extraction expanded 2.3 per cent in November, partly offsetting the 4.6 per cent decline in October. Non-metallic mineral mining was up 4.2 per cent, largely as a result of a 5.2 per cent increase in potash mining. Metal ore mining edged up 0.2 per cent, as a 6.5 per cent growth in copper, nickel, lead and zinc mining was partly offset by declines in other types of metal ore mining. Coal mining increased 5.2 per cent in November, up for the fourth time in five months, driven by foreign demand,” added Statistics Canada.

“Oil and gas extraction contracted 1.6 per cent in November. Conventional oil and gas extraction was down 2.2 per cent as both crude petroleum and natural gas extraction decreased. Crude petroleum extraction was affected by an intense storm off of Canada’s East Coast which affected all offshore drilling activities and damaged some oil and gas production, storage and offloading facilities. Non-conventional oil extraction decreased 0.9 per cent.”

The report said support activities for mining and oil and gas extraction were up 2.4 per cent on account of higher driller services, following three months of declines.

Nationally, the construction sector declined for the sixth consecutive month in November, contracting 0.3 per cent to fall to its lowest level since the middle of 2017.

“Residential construction fell 1.0 per cent as construction of single and semi-detached housing units, along with home alterations and improvements, continued to decline, while there were gains in row and apartment-type dwellings. Non-residential construction was down 0.7 per cent as growth in industrial and commercial construction was more than offset by declines in public and other non-residential construction. Engineering and other construction (+0.2 per cent) and repair construction (+0.2 per cent) were both up,” said the federal agency.

– Mario Toneguzzi for Calgary’s Business

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