Canada's gross domestic product decreased by 0.6% in May 2016 making it the lowest since March 2009.

Many sectors throughout the Canadian economy have experienced declines in the last several months, which contribute to the country's low percentage.

A damaging blow to the economy was due to the wildfires in Fort McMurray, Alberta a couple months ago. The fires caused Canada's oil and gas extraction sector to plummet 22% in the month of May.

The utilities category went down 1.8% as electric power generation, transmission and distribution were lower. Manufacturing production also decreased by 2.8%, which is the largest decline in the sector since 2009.

Non-conventional oil and gas extraction experienced a hard hit in May as demonstrated by this chart. Photo courtesy of Statistics Canada.

 

Although, a couple other sectors experienced growth during the decline in overall GDP. The public sector (education, health and public administration combined) grew 0.3% in May. The growth in May was primarily due to gains in public administration from the 2016 Census.

Finance and insurance grew 0.6% in May with a lot of the gain from an increase in claims due to the Fort McMurray wildfire. Financial investment services and banking services also rose.