Loewen in Steinbach announced a layoff Thursday. Chief Executive Officer Al Babiuk explains it's a seasonal layoff of production workers as the construction industry slows down in the winter.

"We had a small lay-off of a group of people, about 20 staff members. That really relates, just generally, to the volumes of production activity that we're planning for in the next couple of months. We're at the time of our seasonal change in volume which typically happens at the end of the year."

Babiuk notes they have added about 100 positions since the start of the year and Loewen still has a work force of between 600 and 700 people. He adds the outlook for the coming year indicates a bit of a flat market in Canada while the U.S. market is expected to get stronger.

"I think there are factors in the Canadian market which will influence things slowing down a bit next year. Any province from Manitoba and changes that are happening with respect to fees and regulations there to changes in British Columbia that have been made on mortgages and foreign buyer taxes and things like that are probably going to slow the market somewhat." As for the U.S., he says, "As long as the political changes in the U.S. don't really create any unforeseen ripples, we'd expect the markets to be positive again next year."