Statistics Canada says the economy remained flat in October for the third straight month as services-producing industries edged 0.1% higher, while goods-producing industries were unchanged.
It also forecasts that real gross domestic product for November increased 0.1%, 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% and wholesale trade contracted 0.7%, while retail trade grew 1.2% and mining, quarrying and oil and gas extraction saw a 1% gain.
It says the transportation and warehousing sector declined 0.2% in October as the St. Lawrence Seaway strike decreased activity in some transportation subsectors.
That included a 3.7% 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% as many trucks poised to carry grain were sidelined during the work stoppage.
Real estate agent and broker activities were down 6.8% in October, the largest monthly decrease since April 2022, as StatCan says a majority of Canada’s largest housing markets continued to cool off.