Canada’s gross domestic product edged down slightly in the second quarter, Statistics Canada is reported Friday.

GDP slipped 0.1%, though this is no surprise as the Canadian economy has had to overcome the combined impact of SARS, the mad cow disease scare, and a stronger Canadian dollar.

This is the first quarterly contraction of economic activity since the third quarter of 2001, says StatsCan.

Much of the weakness came in April at the height of the SARS outbreak. The good news is that the economy posted gains in both May and June. Consumer spending (+0.7%) and business investment (+0.5%) both served to shore up the economy in the second quarter, said StatsCan, but with less impact than in the first quarter as both slowed significantly from their first quarter pace.