Canada’s economy reverses months of slow growth with 0.5 per cent boost in

Canada’s economy showed signs of rebounding by growing 0.5 per cent in April, reversing months of slow and negative economic growth.

Real gross domestic product is up half a percentage point largely because of growth in the mining, quarrying and oil and gas extraction sectors, Statistics Canada said in its latest report, released Tuesday. 

“The mining, quarrying and oil and gas extraction sector rose 2.9 per cent in April, the largest monthly growth rate since February 2024 (+3.2 per cent), more than offsetting March’s 1.4 per cent contraction,” the agency said in the report.

The report comes amid concerns about the state of Canada’s economy as GDP contracted in the first quarter of 2026 and the last quarter of 2025, prompting fears of a “technical recession.” The effect of U.S. tariffs on Canadian goods has also been a source of economic anxiety, particularly as the Canada-U.S.-Mexico Agreement review deadline approaches on Wednesday.  

Statistics Canada reported that oil and gas extraction rose 3.7 per cent in April — the largest monthly increase since February 2024. 

Oil sands extraction led the way. 

“The industry expanded 6.6 per cent in April as lower crude bitumen extraction was more than offset by higher synthetic crude oil production, which rebounded following longer than anticipated unscheduled maintenance that tempered the growth through the first three months of the year,” the report said.

Manufacturing, public sector also growing: StatsCan

Industries outside of natural resources also expanded, including the manufacturing sector (0.6 per cent) and the public sector (0.4 per cent). The report said federal government public administration grew for the first time in four months, while defence services grew for the seventh consecutive month.

Fourteen of 20 industrial sectors grew in April, according to the report.

April’s GDP growth was slightly higher than the 0.4 per cent growth that Statistics Canada predicted in its previous report. Some economists and business leaders have recently criticized how the agency reports economic data, saying it’s too prone to revisions of previous GDP reports. Tuesday’s report did not include any revisions.

A brief from CIBC Economics said the number marks a break from the economy’s previous slow growth.

“Today’s data show that the Canadian economy sprang back to life early in Q2, following the sluggishness seen in the previous two quarters,” wrote Andrew Grantham, a senior economist with CIBC.

“We continue to forecast no change in the Bank of Canada’s overnight rate this year.”