More than 115 cases of eye damage reported in Ontario after solar eclipse
More than 115 people who viewed the solar eclipse in Ontario earlier this month experienced eye damage after the event, according to eye doctors in the province.
Economic growth slowed in April and Statistics Canada said Thursday its early estimate for May pointed to a contraction for the month amid weakness in the resource, manufacturing and construction sectors.
The agency said growth in April was led by the mining, quarrying and oil and gas extraction sector and client-facing industries as real gross domestic product advanced 0.3 per cent for the month compared with a 0.7 per cent gain in March.
However, its early estimate for May indicated a contraction of 0.2 per cent for the month. The official reading for the month is expected on July 29.
Stephen Brown, senior Canada economist at Capital Economics, said the preliminary estimate for May came as a shock, but added that it appeared to have been partly due to temporary factors.
"Amid elevated commodity prices and cuts to supply elsewhere, we would be surprised if activity in the mining, oil and gas sector failed to bounce back in June," Brown wrote in a report.
"Likewise, as there are now signs that global product shortages are easing, manufacturing activity should also rebound over the coming months."
The reading on the economy comes ahead of the Bank of Canada's next interest rate decision set for July 13. Economists widely expect the central bank to raise its key interest target with many expecting a supersized increase of three-quarters of a percentage point.
The central bank is trying to bring inflation, which hit 7.7 per cent in May, back under control.
RBC economist Claire Fan said despite the surprise decline for May, the economy is still running firmly above long-run capacity limits, evident by the low unemployment rates.
"And inflation remains uncomfortably high at levels well above the central bank's target," Fan wrote in a report.
However, Fan said RBC expects growth to slow more significantly as the year progresses, pointing to high inflation and rising borrowing costs biting more into households' spending power.
For April, Statistics Canada said the mining, quarrying and oil and gas extraction sector grew by 3.3 per cent, as oil and gas extraction gained 3.9 per cent.
Oilsands extraction rose 5.6 per cent, the largest monthly increase since September 2020, while oil and gas extraction excluding the oilsands grew 1.6 per cent.
The accommodation and food services sector added 4.6 per cent, as food services and drinking places grew 3.5 per cent to top pre-pandemic levels. Accommodation services rose 7.2 per cent.
The arts, entertainment and recreation sector rose 7.0 per cent, but was still 12 per cent below its February 2020 level.
The real estate sector contracted 0.8 per cent in April as activity at the offices of real estate agents and brokers dropped 15.0 per cent, the largest contraction since April 2020.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published June 30, 2022.
More than 115 people who viewed the solar eclipse in Ontario earlier this month experienced eye damage after the event, according to eye doctors in the province.
George Mallory is renowned for being one of the first British mountaineers to attempt to scale the dizzying heights of Mount Everest during the 1920s. Nearly a century later, newly digitized letters shed light on Mallory’s hopes and fears about ascending Everest.
A Sherwood Park family says their new house is uninhabitable. The McNaughton's say they were forced to leave the house after living there for only a week because contaminants inside made it difficult to breathe.
A man has been handed a lengthy hunting ban and fined thousands of dollars for illegally killing a grizzly bear, B.C. conservation officers say.
Sophie Gregoire Trudeau says there is 'still so much love' between her and Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, as they navigate their post-separation relationship co-parenting their three children.
An emergency slide fell off a Delta Air Lines jetliner shortly after takeoff Friday from New York, and pilots who felt a vibration in the plane circled back to land safely at JFK Airport.
The B.C. NDP has asked the federal government to recriminalize public drug use, marking a major shift in the province's approach to addressing the deadly overdose crisis.
An Ontario man who took out a loan to pay for auto repairs said his car was repossessed after he missed two payments.
A girl and a boy, both 14 years old, made their first appearance today in a Halifax courtroom, where they each face a second-degree murder charge in the stabbing death of a 16-year-old high school student.
Mounties in Nanaimo, B.C., say two late-night revellers are lucky their allegedly drunken antics weren't reported to police after security cameras captured the men trying to steal a heavy sign from a downtown business.
A property tax bill is perplexing a small townhouse community in Fergus, Ont.
When identical twin sisters Kim and Michelle Krezonoski were invited to compete against some of the world’s most elite female runners at last week’s Boston Marathon, they were in disbelief.
The giant stone statues guarding the Lions Gate Bridge have been dressed in custom Vancouver Canucks jerseys as the NHL playoffs get underway.
A local Oilers fan is hoping to see his team cut through the postseason, so he can cut his hair.
A family from Laval, Que. is looking for answers... and their father's body. He died on vacation in Cuba and authorities sent someone else's body back to Canada.
A former educational assistant is calling attention to the rising violence in Alberta's classrooms.
The federal government says its plan to increase taxes on capital gains is aimed at wealthy Canadians to achieve “tax fairness.”
At 6'8" and 350 pounds, there is nothing typical about UBC offensive lineman Giovanni Manu, who was born in Tonga and went to high school in Pitt Meadows.