Provincial and Territorial Natural Resources Satellite Account, 2022
Released: 2024-07-31
Real gross domestic product (GDP) of the natural resources sector increased across several provinces and territories in 2022, with large increases in Alberta (+5.8%) and Ontario (+3.9%) offset by a decrease in Newfoundland and Labrador (-5.7%). The large growth in Alberta was mainly attributed to increased extraction of crude oil and related energy services. Nationally, natural resources' real GDP increased 3.1%, compared with a 3.8% increase in economy-wide real GDP, after increasing 6.3% in 2021.
Natural resources' real gross domestic product rises across most subsectors
Real GDP of the energy subsector rose 4.5% in 2022, with large increases in Alberta (+5.8%) and Ontario (+3.9%) offset by a decrease in Newfoundland and Labrador (-5.7%). The overall increase in the subsector was led mainly by increases in Alberta, with a 16.7% rise in services and a 4.5% increase in crude oil extraction, leading to a recovery beyond pre-COVID-19 levels.
Real GDP of the forestry subsector rose 0.3%, with the largest increases in Ontario (+2.5%) and Alberta (+2.3%) offset by a decrease in British Columbia (-1.1%). Increases were mainly observed in sawmill and wood product manufacturing.
Real GDP of the minerals and mining subsector rose 1.0%, with increases mainly in primary manufacturing (+2.2%). Ontario (+7.6%) contributed the largest increase, with values rising across the subsector, offset by decreases in metallic mineral extraction in British Columbia (-4.1%).
Real GDP of the hunting, fishing and water subsector showed a slight decrease (-1.0%) in 2022.
Chart 1
Growth in real gross domestic product of natural resources, by province and territory, 2022
Energy-rich Alberta contributed 38.2% to the overall natural resources GDP in nominal terms, representing a larger share than previous years, owing to a substantial increase in 2022 in the energy subsector. Other top contributors to natural resources GDP were Ontario, at 15.5%, British Columbia and Quebec, at 12.7%, and Saskatchewan, at 11.5%.
The share of natural resource activity to overall provincial economic activity was 30.7% for Alberta, reaching the highest level since 2014. For Newfoundland and Labrador, the share reached 36.8%, the highest level since 2013.
The lowest share was observed in Prince Edward Island, at 4.1%, followed by Ontario, at 5.1% and Nova Scotia, at 5.8%.
Among the territories, the natural resources share of GDP was highest in Nunavut, at 48.6%, followed by Northwest Territories, at 25.1%, and Yukon, at 17.6%.
Export and import volumes rise
International exports (+34.0%) and imports (+32.7%) of natural resources rose in 2022. Exports in the energy (+52.9%) and minerals and mining (+23.0%) subsectors contributed the majority of the increase, showing strong post-pandemic demand and prices, while the forestry and hunting, fishing and water subsectors increased slightly. The main contributor within the sector was crude oil, with an increase of 49.1%.
International imports of the energy (+52.4%), minerals and mining (+18.4%), and forestry (+14.5%) subsectors rose, while the hunting, fishing and water (-9.8%) subsector fell, following a large increase in the previous year.
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Note to readers
Data on provincial and territorial natural resources for 2022 and 2021 have been released along with revised data back to 2019.
The release incorporated new benchmark values from the supply and use tables for the 2020 reference year. Volume and price estimates for the natural resources gross domestic product have been updated to 2017 (2017=100) reference year with this release.
Jobs data have been revised back to 2009 to incorporate changes to the Canadian Productivity Accounts.
The natural resource indicators provide annual indicators for the main aggregates in the Natural Resource Satellite Account (NRSA), namely, gross domestic product, output, exports, imports, and number of jobs. The estimates from this account are directly comparable to the estimates in the Canadian System of Macroeconomic Accounts.
Core natural resources: The NRSA defines natural resource activities as those which result in goods and services originating from naturally occurring assets used in economic activity, as well as their initial processing (primary manufacturing).
Downstream activities: Although not part of the core account, natural resources have important downstream effects on other sectors. In general, this production uses a large portion of primary manufactured products as inputs.
Products
The Economic accounts statistics portal, accessible from the Subjects module of our website, features an up-to-date portrait of national and provincial economies and their structure.
Additional information can be found in the articles "The Natural Resources Satellite Account: Feasibility study" and "The Natural Resources Satellite Account – Sources and methods," which are part of the Income and Expenditure Accounts Technical Series (13-604-M).
The Latest Developments in the Canadian Economic Accounts (13-605-X) is available.
The User Guide: Canadian System of Macroeconomic Accounts (13-606-G) is also available.
The Methodological Guide: Canadian System of Macroeconomic Accounts (13-607-X) is also available.
Contact information
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