Statistics Canada says the month included the biggest decline in retail trade since March 2016

Statistics Canada says October's decline in GDP was the first in eight months

The GDP was doing 0.1 per cent in October from the month before

OTTAWA – Canada’s economy contracted slightly in October, with real gross domestic product down 0.1 per cent from September.

Statistics Canada says that October’s decline in GDP was the first in eight months.

Economists had projected a flat GDP report for October compared with September, according to financial markets data firm Refinitiv.

Statistics Canada says the month included the biggest decline in retail trade since March 2016.

There were also declines in wholesale trade and manufacturing.

Those declines were only partly offset by an advance in the mining, quarrying and oil and gas extraction sector as well as transportation and warehousing services.