Statistics Canada reports that the country's real gross domestic product inched up 0.6 per cent in January, the latest sign that the national economy is moving forward in its recovery from a brutal recession.
It was the fifth-straight month that the real GDP increased, though it remains below where it stood before the start of the recession at the tail-end of 2008.
Also in January, goods-producing industries increased 1.3 per cent, powered by surging manufacturing and construction activity.
StatsCan said manufacturing increased 1.9 per cent in January after posting a 1.2 per cent advance the month before. Increases in metal products manufacturing, chemical, plastics and rubber products were reported, while motor vehicle production dropped.
BNN's Michael Kane said the bump in manufacturing is clearly reflected in the changing job-loss numbers that show the industry is in a better position than it was in last summer, despite the fact that it is still shedding jobs.
"Between August of 2008 and August of 2009, so last year, we were losing manufacturing jobs of a rate of 18,000 per month, on average," he told Â鶹´«Ã½ Channel on Wednesday morning.
Now the manufacturing sector is losing about 1,300 jobs per month, Kane said.
"So that tells you that the destruction of the manufacturing sector that we so often talk about, has really, really slowed and as a matter of fact, may be turning around," said Kane.
Mining and oil-and-gas extraction increased by 0.9 per cent in the same month, and the construction sector was up 1.7 per cent in January. The volume of wholesaling activity jumped 2.9 per cent and value added in the retail trade sector rose 0.8 per cent. The finance and insurance sector was up 0.6 per cent.
Finance Minister Jim Flaherty called the report "encouraging," but said there is still considerable room for improvement.
"We're seeing persistent growth," Flaherty told reporters. "(But) the economy's still fragile, there's still lots of difficulty."
Critics point out that unemployment is still high. There is also concern that Bank of Canada Governor Mark Carney's warning of a looming interest-rate hike could lead to a slow-down this fall.
"There's a train coming down the track here," Liberal Leader Michael Ignatieff said Wednesday. "The baby boomer generation retires, suddenly we have soaring health costs, (and) we have pension challenges."
With files from The Canadian Press
