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Construction in Calgary. For commercial investment, Alberta faced the worst declines, down 13.2 per cent to $1.4 billion.

For the third consecutive quarter, Canada's non-residential building construction investment has decreased to $10.4 billion.

According to Statistics Canada, a near four per cent drop from second quarter 2009 was due to lower spending on commercial and industrial projects, which were down 7.5 and 8.8 per cent, respectively. The good news, however, is the institutional sector's climb has continued, moving up 5.5 per cent to about $3.3 billion.

In the commercial construction category, Alberta was among the hardest hit, declining 13.2 per cent to $1.4 billion.

New Brunswick, on the other hand, benefited from higher spending in institutional and commercial circles (particularly office buildings) to reach $175 million in non-residential spending—an increase of 10.4 per cent.

With respect to census metropolitan areas, the most significant decreases were in Toronto, Vancouver, and Calgary. Conversely, Ottawa experienced the biggest growth, with investment increasing by 4.8 per cent.