Oil is now our most important commodity by value (Chart 4), with its share rising over the past 15 years from 18 per cent to 46 per cent of total Canadian commodity production.
The declining importance of manufacturing Coinciding with this period of elevated commodity prices, the share of the manufacturing sector in Canadian GDP has declined since the turn of the century from 18 per cent to around 11 per cent. For the promoters of Dutch Disease, this is the “a-ha” fact, with the coincidental relationship described as causal.