Petroleum and coal product sales drive monthly increase in manufacturing sales
Manufacturing sales reached their highest level since January 2025, rising 3.0% to $73.6 billion in March 2026. Sales rose in 9 of the 21 subsectors, led by the petroleum and coal product (+22.7%) and transportation equipment (+6.0%) subsectors. Sales in the petroleum and coal product subsector rose to $9.4 billion in March, marking their highest level since September 2023. Prices for energy and petroleum products grew by 27.4% in March 2026 amid increased geopolitical tensions in the Middle East.
Machinery, equipment and supplies subsector leads the Wholesale sales gains
Wholesale sales (excluding petroleum, petroleum products, and other hydrocarbons and excluding oilseed and grain) rose 1.9% to $89.0 billion in March. Sales in the machinery, equipment and supplies subsector rose 6.5% to $19.5 billion in March. The increase was driven by higher sales in the computer and communications equipment and supplies industry group (+17.9% to $5.9 billion). This was the largest increase for this industry group since January 2021.
Source: Wholesale trade, March 2026
Canadian-resident return trips from the United States and from overseas increase
In April, Canadian-resident return trips from the United States totalled 1.8 million, up 1.4% from the same month in 2025. Driven by an increase in return trips by automobile (+5.8%), April marks the first month since December 2024 that a year-over-year increase in overall return trips from the United States has occurred. Canadian-resident return trips from overseas countries by air totalled 1.3 million in April 2026, up 5.3% from the same month one year earlier.
Source: Leading indicator of international arrivals to Canada, April 2026
News organizations are the top source for news or information for Canadians, though habits vary by age
In 2025, 80% of Canadians reported seeing news or information on the Internet that they suspected was misleading, false, or inaccurate at least once a month. Canadians most typically obtained news or information from news organizations (66%), close contacts (62%), social media platforms (54%) and television programming (52%). In 2025, more than three-quarters of those 75 years and older (78%) relied on news organizations, compared with close to half (49%) of Canadians aged 15 to 24.
Bicycle commuters
In 2025, 244,000 Canadians or 1.4% of commuters mainly depended on their bicycle to get to work, a rate that has barely budged in years. In Victoria, approximately 1 in 20 commuters (5.3%) regularly biked to work in 2021—by far the highest rate among Canada’s 41 largest cities. An important consideration when looking at bicycle commuting patterns is distance to work. In 2021, 11 million Canadians commuted to work by car, truck or van, spending on average 22.8 minutes on their commute while a further 1 million took public transit, taking an average of 42.9 minutes to get to work.
Source: Bicycle commuters: The hardy one-percenters
Contact information
For more information, contact the Statistical Information Service (toll-free 1-800-263-1136; 514-283-8300; infostats@statcan.gc.ca) or Media Relations (statcan.mediahotline-ligneinfomedias.statcan@statcan.gc.ca).