Canada's economy shrank in the second quarter as it dealt with the fallout from this spring's devastating wildfires in northern Alberta, Statistics Canada confirmed today. On an annualized basis, the economy shrank by 1.6 per cent in the second quarter — the largest quarterly decline in gross domestic product since the second quarter of 2009, when the country was in the throes of the financial crisis. The contraction in the second quarter followed annualized growth of 2.5 per cent in the first quarter — revised higher from an initial reading of 2.4 per cent. In large part, it blamed a 4.5 per cent drop in exports — especially energy products — as the Alberta fires caused many oilsands operations to curtail production in May. Growth returns in JuneBut while the performance for the second quarter as a whole was poor, the economy bounced back to growth in June.

Source: CBC News August 31, 2016 12:45 UTC