From an overall economic perspective, things have gotten better since the depths of the spring lockdown. But the extent to which things have—or have not—improved depends on which sector of the economy you call home.

If you are a company that provides oil field services, the word “recovery” probably does not ring true given that the support activities for mining and oil and gas extraction sector’s economic output was down by 70.5 per cent in July compared to its pre-pandemic level.

The same goes for many workers and businesses in the arts, entertainment and recreation sector, which was still down by 53.0 per cent in July.

Conversely, while the situation of individual cannabis stores and growers will vary—as a group—things are rolling along fairly well with real output up by 48.2 per cent in the licensed cannabis sector. (The unlicensed cannabis sector was, however, down by 4.9 per cent.)

The economic output of the air transportation sector, on the other hand, was down by 91.4 per cent.

Lumping all economic activity together, Canada’s real GDP (i.e. economic output) was down by 5.8 per cent in July compared to February. This is a marked improvement over the 18.1 per cent differential set in April, but highlights the damage caused by the pandemic.