'He's in our hearts': Family and friends still seek answers one year after Nathan Wise’s disappearance
It’s been a year since Nathan Wise went missing and his family is no closer to finding out what happened to him.
The Canadian economy grew by 0.3 per cent in May despite downward pressure from wildfire-hit oil and gas production but it looks to have slowed in June, Statistics Canada said Friday.
In its latest report on economic growth, the federal agency's preliminary estimate suggests real gross domestic product grew at an annualized rate of one per cent in the second quarter.
The May figure came in slightly lower than was expected by Statistics Canada as mining and oil and gas companies reduced their operations in Alberta at the outset of the record-breaking wildfire season.
The energy sector was down 2.1 per cent in May, the release shows.
"This was the sector's first decline in five months and its largest since August 2020," the agency said.
The modest GDP increase in May was driven in part by a rebound in the public administration sector as most federal public servants on strike returned to work by the end of April. However, 35,000 Canada Revenue Agency workers remained on strike for three days in May, which dampened the rebound.
The economy remained resilient in the second quarter, but growth started to look weaker by the end of the period, with wholesale sales posting one of their largest declines in history in June, said RBC economist Claire Fan in a note.
"The resilience in consumer demand we've seen to date is not to be overlooked, adding to sticky inflation pressures. But momentum in services spending also appears to be waning -- gross sales at food services and drinking places have been trending at levels below this January for months," she wrote.
That modest growth is unlikely to hold, as the federal agency's preliminary estimate for June suggests the economy contracted by 0.2 per cent.
Statistics Canada says the estimated decrease in June is mainly owing to the wholesale trade and manufacturing sectors.
Both sectors saw growth in May as supply chain issues related to semiconductor chips eased, but the downward trend in June is expected to "more than offset the increases recorded in May," the agency said.
The slowdown comes as the Bank of Canada's key interest rate sits at five per cent, the highest it's been since 2001. The interest rate spike is expected to slow the economy down, though it has generally performed better than expected this year.
The real estate sector, for example, is expected to continue to grow in June despite high interest rates.
In May, home resales in most of Canada's largest markets led to an industry increase of 7.6 per cent.
A series of transitory shocks since April, such as the wildfires, has made the data more difficult to interpret, wrote TD economist Marc Ercolao in a note.
"Looking ahead, headline GDP figures may continue to be skewed by the government's grocery rebate and the effects of the B.C. port strike in July," he said.
But the the pullback in June will likely help support a hold on the Bank of Canada's key policy rate in September after announcing a hike this month, said Ercolao.
"Slowing growth appears to be in the cards for the Canadian economy, and we believe this will be enough for the (central bank) to remain on hold at its next meeting," he said.
The Bank of Canada won't hesitate to hike rates further if necessary, said Fan, but she added that "the worst is yet to come" for households dealing with rising debt service costs.
"We expect that will soften spending, push inflation lower and keep the (central bank) to the sideline over the second half of this year," she said.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published July 28, 2023.
It’s been a year since Nathan Wise went missing and his family is no closer to finding out what happened to him.
Dozens of Ontarians are expressing frustration in the province’s health-care system after their family doctors either dropped them as patients or threatened to after they sought urgent care elsewhere.
An Ottawa pizzeria is being recognized as one of the top 20 deep-dish pizzas in the world.
Amazon's paid subscription service provides free delivery for online shopping across Canada except for remote locations, the company said in an email. While customers in Iqaluit qualify for the offer, all other communities in Nunavut are excluded.
The fire burning near Fort McMurray grew from 25 hectares to 5,500 hectares over the weekend.
Russia’s President Vladimir Putin began a Cabinet shakeup on Sunday, proposing the replacement of Sergei Shoigu as defence minister as he begins his fifth term in office.
Police are searching for a male suspect after a man was “slashed in neck” on Sunday morning in downtown Toronto and died.
There were some scary moments for several people on a northern Ontario highway caught on video Thursday after a chain reaction following a truck fire.
Health Canada announced various product recalls this week, including electric adapters, armchairs, cannabis edibles and vehicle components.
English, history, entertainment, math and geography: high school trivia teams could be quizzed on any of it when they compete at the Reach for the Top Nationals in Ottawa in June.
An Ottawa pizzeria is being recognized as one of the top 20 deep-dish pizzas in the world.
A family of fifth generation farmers from Ituna, Sask. are trying to find answers after discovering several strange objects lying on their land.
A Listowel, Ont. man, drafted by the Hamilton Tigercats last week, is also getting looks from the NFL, despite only playing 27 games of football in his life.
The threat of zebra mussels has prompted the federal government to temporarily ban watercraft from a Manitoba lake popular with tourists.
A small Ajax dessert shop that recently received a glowing review from celebrity food critic Keith Lee is being forced to move after a zoning complaint was made following the social media influencer’s visit last month.
The Canada Science and Technology Museum is inviting visitors to explore their poop. A new exhibition opens at the Ottawa museum on Friday called, 'Oh Crap! Rethinking human waste.'
The Regina Police Service says it is the first in Saskatchewan and possibly Canada to implement new technology in its detention facility that will offer real-time monitoring of detainees’ vital health metrics.
Just as she had feared, a restaurant owner from eastern Quebec who visited Montreal had her SUV stolen, but says it was all thanks to the kindness of strangers on the internet — not the police — that she got it back.