The total value of Canada's economy declined by 0.2% in May, the fifth consecutive monthly slide, according to Statistics Canada.
The agency adds the service sector shrank by 0.1% in May, while goods-producing industries contracted by 0.6%.
The manufacturing, mining, quarrying, oil and gas and utilities sectors were all down. On the opposite end, the construction and agriculture and forestry sectors expanded.
The drop was worse than the flat showing that a consensus of economists polled by Bloomberg had been expecting.
The contraction also means that if data for June shows another drop, Canada's economy will have met the bar of what many economists call a recession — two quarters, or six straight months, of negative growth. Some economists say we are already in a recession, even though the data to confirm this has yet to come out. Others argue that a recession requires more than just a simple six-month decline.
Even if June surprises with enough of an expansion to drag the quarterly figure into positive territory, the five-month slump from January to May is already the longest contraction since 2009. The Bank of Canada's latest forecast assumed a 0.5% contraction for the second quarter as a whole.
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