Canada’s economic growth recovery in 2017 was far stronger than many would have predicted. Clearly, the recent recovery in the oil and gas production and the weak currency worked its magic and sparked a recovery in manufacturing output and employment.

As well, industrial capacity utilization rose sharply last year and currently is not all that much lower than earlier peaks.

Indeed, robust employment gains sparked an improvement in the overall economy, and supported the expansion of new housing starts across the country.

As the second chart indicates, the expansion of the Canadian job market in 2017 was the strongest in fifteen years, while the annual increase in housing starts was the strongest in ten years.

Canadian Capacity Utilization: 1987- 2017