Statistics Canada announced last Friday that the Canadian economy shrank at an annualized rate of 0.2 percent in the second quarter. The agency also restated its statistics on growth for the first quarter of the year, down to an annualized pace of 2.6 percent from a previously-stated 3.1 percent.
There was further bad news for our industry. Statistics Canada said that new construction was off 8.2 percent in the second quarter, year-over-year. Renovation spending fell 4.3 percent in the quarter, compared to the same period last year.
