Last Updated: Thursday, January 31, 2008 | 11:09 AM ET
CBC News

Economic activity in Canada inched ahead by 0.1 per cent in November, as growth remained modest through the autumn, Statistics Canada said Thursday.

Economists had been looking for growth of 0.2 per cent for the month.

The economy grew by 0.2 per cent in October, and by 0.1 per cent in September.

Service industry output rose by 0.2 per cent, but production of goods declined by a similar amount, the federal government agency said.

Retail trade as well as arts and entertainment posted the strongest advances, while the forestry, manufacturing, mining and wholesale trade sectors saw declines.

The hard-hit manufacturing sector saw its output fall 0.3 per cent in November, as it reached its second-lowest level since the start of 2007. During November, the Canadian dollar reached a peak of $1.10 US, making Canadian products more expensive in the U.S. market...

A lot has been made of the current economic whirlwind in the US right now.  With the dollar gaining as it did in November it certainly had an impact on the manufacturing sector.  Canadian manufacturers rely in a lot of ways on our dollar being in a weaker state than that of the American dollar.  Simple  economics at work here, when you have the world's largest consumer base right across the border and they have to pay more for a product they tend to not buy as many or none at all.  It is a tight rope that all Canadians must walk at some point as we are obviously all consumers here too and rely on US made products for our consumption.  I have to admit it was fun to shop on E-Bay prior to Christmas with 10% more buying power, but alas it also meant that certain sectors of the Canadian economy were going to inevitably suffer.  The Bank of Canada looks to be poised to lower its prime lending rate as needed to help offset what our neighbours to the south are doing.  Nobody wants to use the "R" word but the signs are clearly there.  The next few months should prove to be interesting!

Sincerely,

Jason Neumann