Canada Q2 GDP grows 3.3% as exports and domestic demand rebound

Canada's economy rebounded strongly in the second quarter, growing at an annualized rate of 3.3 percent, according to data released by Statistics Canada on Friday, August 28, 2026. The robust expansion follows a period of near-stagnation and effectively erases earlier concerns that the country had entered a technical recession. The growth, which exceeded the Bank of Canada's July forecast of 2.5 percent, was driven by a significant jump in exports and solid domestic demand. Statistics Canada also revised the first quarter's performance upward, from a slight contraction to a 0.3 percent annualized gain. This revision confirms that Canada did not experience two consecutive quarters of negative growth, the typical definition of a recession. A key contributor to the second quarter's performance was a 3.6 percent surge in exports, the fastest pace in over three years. This was led by a rebound in shipments of passenger cars and light trucks after two quarters of decline. On the domestic front, final domestic demand, a measure of total consumption and capital spending, rebounded to 1 percent growth after a minor contraction in the previous quarter.