Gross domestic product by industry, February 2026
Released: 2026-04-30
February 2026
0.2% 
(monthly change)
Real gross domestic product (GDP) was up 0.2% in February, with goods-producing industries driving the growth for the second consecutive month.
Chart 1
Real gross domestic product grows in February
Goods-producing industries grew 0.4% in February, driven by expansions in manufacturing and mining, quarrying, and oil and gas extraction. Services-producing industries edged up 0.1%, as rebounds in transportation and warehousing and wholesale trade were largely offset by contractions in the public sector.
Manufacturing sector regains momentum
The manufacturing sector led the growth in February, rising 1.8% in the month. This was the largest monthly growth in the sector since January 2023 (+2.2%) and was driven by a 3.6% expansion in durable-goods manufacturing industries.
Chart 2
Manufacturing sector rises in February
The machinery manufacturing subsector (+8.7%) led the rebound in February, on strengths in the industrial machinery manufacturing and metalworking machinery manufacturing industry groups, coinciding with higher exports of many machinery products.
Transportation equipment manufacturing rose 5.5% in February, partly recovering from January's contraction (-7.0%). Following three consecutive monthly contractions, motor vehicles and parts manufacturing jumped 9.8% in February, with expansions in motor vehicle manufacturing (+20.4%), motor vehicle parts manufacturing (+4.2%) and motor vehicle body and trailer manufacturing (+7.9%). Several auto assembly plants in Ontario were in the process of ramping-up production, following shutdowns related to model-change, retooling and assembly-line maintenance in January. The expansion in motor vehicles and parts manufacturing further coincided with higher exports of passenger cars and light trucks as well as motor vehicle engines and parts, in response to rising motor vehicle production in the United States.
Wholesale trade returns to growth as automotive supply chain bottlenecks ease
The wholesale trade sector rose 0.9% in February, largely offsetting January's decrease.
Motor vehicle and motor vehicle parts and accessories merchant wholesalers (+6.1%) led the growth in February, corresponding to increased production of motor vehicles as well as higher exports and imports of passenger cars and light trucks and motor vehicle engines and parts.
A rebound in personal and household goods merchant wholesalers (+2.4%) further contributed to the growth, driven by growth in pharmaceuticals and pharmacy supplies. After a decrease in December 2025, food, beverage and tobacco merchant wholesalers rose for the second consecutive month, up 2.7% in February, corresponding to increased food manufacturing and international trade activity.
Transportation and warehousing rebounds
The transportation and warehousing sector rose 1.2% in February on strengths in most of its subsectors.
In February, truck transportation (+2.3%) recorded its largest growth since March 2021, driven by higher activity in industries reliant on freight movement and on transborder movement of goods. Industries reliant on this mode of transportation service include food manufacturing (+3.2%), primary metal manufacturing (+5.2%), and transportation equipment manufacturing (+5.5%), along with wholesale trade (+0.9%), retail trade (+0.2%), as well as postal service and couriers and messengers (+3.3%).
Following three consecutive monthly contractions, support activities for transportation rose 1.2% in February due in large part to the recovery in transportation equipment manufacturing.
Rail transportation was up 1.6%, reflecting increased intermodal carloadings as well as higher potash and canola carloadings, along with other agricultural goods.
Mining, quarrying, and oil and gas extraction grows for the second month in a row
Mining, quarrying, and oil and gas extraction grew 0.4% in February, driven by increased activity in oil and gas extraction as well as mining and quarrying (except oil and gas).
Oil and gas extraction (+0.4%) recorded its second consecutive monthly increase in February. The February increase was driven by higher activity in oil and gas extraction (except oil sands) (+2.3%) and reflected increased crude petroleum extractions in Saskatchewan and Newfoundland and Labrador, along with increased natural gas extractions. Meanwhile, oil sands extraction (-1.7%) tempered growth, as maintenance at several facilities lowered synthetic crude production in Alberta.
Mining and quarrying (except oil and gas) (+1.2%) further added to the growth in February. A rebound in metal ore mining (+2.7%) led the expansion, driven by increased copper, nickel, lead and zinc ore mining (+6.6%) which coincided with higher exports of copper in February. Non-metallic mineral mining and quarrying (+2.8%) expanded, marking its second consecutive monthly increase, on widespread expansions across all comprising industries.
Finance and insurance sector up in February
Finance and insurance grew 0.3% in February, driven by expansion in banking, monetary authorities and other depository credit intermediation (+0.4%). Growth in loan and mortgage activity as well as deposits at chartered banks contributed to the increase.
Public sector weighs on February's growth, on widespread contractions
The public sector aggregate (comprising educational services, health care and social assistance, and public administration) was down 0.3% in February, following three consecutive monthly increases, on broad-based declines across all comprising sectors.
Chart 3
Federal government public administration (except defence) falls in February
Public administration (-0.5%) contributed the most to the decline in February, recording its second consecutive monthly contraction. Activity at nearly all levels of government was down in February with local, municipal and regional public administration (-0.7%) and federal government public administration (-0.4%) contributing the most to the decrease.
Educational services (-0.5%) were down for the first time in four months, on widespread weaknesses across all industry groups, led by elementary and secondary schools (-0.7%).
Arts, entertainment and recreation down on weakness in spectator sports
The arts, entertainment and recreation sector contracted 2.5% in February, recording its first decline in three months and the largest since January 2022 when public health measures were implemented to contain the Omicron variant of COVID-19. Performing arts, spectator sports and related industries, and heritage institutions (-5.8%) were down the most, driven by lower activity in spectator sports. The decline coincided with a two-week break in the National Hockey League schedule as certain players participated in the Milano-Cortina 2026 Winter Olympic Games.
Chart 4
Main industrial sectors' contribution to the percent change in gross domestic product in February
Advance estimate for real gross domestic product by industry for March 2026
Advance information indicates that real GDP was essentially unchanged in March. Increases in wholesale trade and transportation and warehousing were offset by decreases in retail trade and mining, quarrying, and oil and gas extraction. Owing to its preliminary nature, this estimate will be updated on May 29, 2026, with the release of the official GDP by industry data for March.
With this advance estimate for March, information on real GDP by industry suggests that the economy expanded 0.4% in the first quarter of 2026. The official estimate for the first quarter will be available on May 29, 2026, when the official estimate of real GDP by income and expenditure is released.
Sustainable development goals
On January 1, 2016, the world officially began implementing the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development—the United Nations' transformative plan of action that addresses urgent global challenges over the following 15 years. The plan is based on 17 specific sustainable development goals.
The release on gross domestic product by industry is an example of how Statistics Canada supports monitoring the progress of global sustainable development goals. This release will be used to help measure the following goal:
Note to readers
General information
Monthly data on gross domestic product (GDP) by industry at basic prices are chained volume estimates with 2017 as the reference year. This means that the data for each industry and each aggregate are obtained from a chained volume index multiplied by the industry's value added in 2017. The monthly data are benchmarked to annually chained Fisher volume indexes of GDP obtained from the constant-price supply and use tables (SUTs) up to the latest SUTs year (2022).
For the period starting in January 2023, data are derived by chaining a fixed-weight Laspeyres volume index to the prior period. The fixed weights are 2022 industry current price estimates.
Statistics Canada also produces expenditure-based GDP estimates at market prices, which are chained quarterly based on a Fisher volume index. Due to conceptual and statistical differences, GDP by industry and GDP by expenditure percent change estimates can diverge slightly.
All data in this release are seasonally adjusted. For information on seasonal adjustment, see Seasonally adjusted data – Frequently asked questions.
An advance estimate of industrial production for March 2026 is available upon request.
For more information on GDP, see the video "What is Gross Domestic Product (GDP)?."
For more information on the impact of tariffs on key economic statistics, please consult: "How tariffs are conceptually reflected in key economic statistics."
Revisions
Each month, newly available administrative and survey data from various industries in the economy are integrated, resulting in statistical revisions. Updated and revised administrative data (including taxation statistics), new information provided by respondents to industry surveys, and standard changes to seasonal adjustment calculations are incorporated with each release.
With this release of monthly GDP by industry, revisions have been made back to January 2025.
To satisfy the opposing goals for both timeliness and accuracy, Statistics Canada regularly updates (revises) its estimates of GDP. For more information about GDP revision cycles, please consult the "Revisions to Canada's GDP" article in the Latest Developments in the Canadian Economic Accounts (13-605-X).
Real-time table
Real-time table 36-10-0491-01 will be updated on May 11, 2026.
Next release
Data on real GDP by industry for March 2026 will be released on May 29, including an advance estimate for the April 2026 reference month.
Products
The User Guide: Canadian System of Macroeconomic Accounts (13-606-G) is available.
The Methodological Guide: Canadian System of Macroeconomic Accounts (13-607-X) is also available.
The Economic accounts statistics portal, accessible from the Subjects module of the Statistics Canada website, features an up-to-date portrait of national and provincial economies and their structure.
Contact information
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