Commercial printing shipments (NAICS 323) in Canada were C$8.5 billion, up +0.56% in current Canada dollars, and down -1.27% for 2017 after inflation adjustment. In US dollars, they were up +1.02% in current dollars, but down -0.82% after adjusting for inflation.

The US industry has been declining in current dollars, but Canada’s has been holding steadier by that measure. The industry is still subject to the same trends of digital media competition, but it some ways may have been better prepared. Because of its smaller population, the country did not need long-run national publications or develop a large market for catalogs and newspaper inserts as the US did. Therefore, it did not have a “big printing firm” segment that was hit hard by the shift in media mix.