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Ottawa Business Journal

Canada's economic output in the third quarter rose by 0.3 per cent from the previous period, to $1.33 trillion, but most of the gain occurred in July before the advent of the global economic crisis, according to new data from Statistics Canada.

The quarter-over-quarter gain followed mostly flat activity over the first half of the year, as all but one of the 13 economic categories posted modest increases in real gross domestic product during the period.

The gain was led by a 0.7-per-cent increase in output for the energy sector, to $83.1 billion, with industrial production and the goods-producing industries also posting significant gains of 0.6 per cent and 0.5 per cent respectively.

The third-quarter increase for the goods-producing sector, to $366.9 billion, followed four consecutive quarterly declines, the report noted.

The only sector not to post growth in output was the non-durable manufacturing segment, which had essentially flat GDP of $70.7 billion.

On an annualized basis, real GDP grew by 1.3 per cent, the report said.