OTTAWA -- Statistics Canada says the seven-year-old boom in commodity prices had a large impact on key sectors of Canada's economy, buttressing export earnings and profits.
The agency says companies substantially increased fixed investment in the resource sector before the recent world financial crisis put a damper on commodity prices.
Resources were the leading factor in lifting the stock market to record heights, while attracting direct foreign investment flows into Canada.
But StatsCan says these increases have been partly reversed amid the economic turmoil.
The agency says energy recorded the largest and most sustained increases during the boom, led by crude oil, but metal prices took the lead in 2006 and 2007.
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Grain prices jumped in 2007 and early 2008, but have eased on the prospect of a good harvest.
Statistics Canada says the boom bypassed the forestry sector in recent years, due to falling demand for lumber and newsprint.
