The balance of opinion on past sales growth is just below zero, which suggests firms, in aggregate, again experienced a steady pace of sales growth over the past 12 months (Chart 1). This partly reflects slower sales growth in the past 12 months for businesses in the Prairies as challenges in the energy sector spread to other sectors in the region. Firms see some signs that energy-sector activity may have bottomed out as production limits are gradually removed and some progress is made on pipeline capacity. Outside the energy-producing regions, reports of improved indicators of future sales are widespread (Chart 2, ... (full story)