Economic activity in Canada declined 0.2 per cent in February, Statistics Canada said Wednesday.
Wholesale trade and manufacturing accounted for most of the decline, along with slowdowns in retail trade, oil-and-gas extraction and exploration, as well as in the transportation and financial sectors.
The weak gross domestic product comes after a slight increase of 0.6 per cent in January and a 0.7 decline in December.
There were advances in tourism, government-related industries and construction, but not enough to off-set the declines.
Wholesalers of motor vehicles and building supplies bore much of the brunt of the decline, with wholesaling activity falling 1.4 per cent in February after rapidly advancing in January.
"It is evidence that we're seeing some of the weakness attached to the United States' (economic woes)," BNN's Michael Kane told Canada AM. "You can see the economy slowing, and you can see that in the numbers today."
Sixteen of 21 manufacturing groups had declines as the entire sector's value added fell 0.7 per cent in February.
This is despite a hefty gain in the motor vehicle production. StatsCan expects a decline in motor vehicle production for March, however.
There was also a steep decline in the forestry sector as StatsCan reported a loss in sawmill activity, mainly because of the decline in U.S. exports. Wood exports to the U.S. have been declining since January 2006.
The energy sector's activity fell 0.9 per cent, blamed on a decrease in natural gas production. But due to record oil prices, petroleum production increased.
The retail sector fell 0.6 per cent in February's trade activity, marked by declines at pharmacies, clothing stores and new-and-used-car dealers.
There was a slight 0.2 per cent increase in construction activity in February.
