Higher profits in energy and banking sectors in the third quarter helped Canadian businesses post a new record high for operating profits of $67 billion, Statistics Canada said today.

Earnings were up by 5.8% from the previous quarter for the strongest growth since the last three months of 2005.

StatsCan said about half of the third-quarter gain came from the banking and oil and gas industries.

The financial industries’ profits of $19.4 billion were up 6.2%, after an increase of more than 5% in the second quarter.

Profit in the oil and gas extraction sector hit a fourth-quarter high of $8 billion, up 9.6% from the second quarter. Prices for domestic and export crude oil were higher, but natural gas prices were lower.

Motor vehicle and parts manufacturers and telecommunications companies showed profit increases in the July-September period as well, but they were mainly because of “unusually large charges booked against profits in the second quarter,” StatsCan said.

In the manufacturing sector, overall operating profits increased 8.3% to $11.7 billion in the third quarter. That was still below the most recent high of $12.7 billion in the second quarter of 2004.