OTTAWA — No wonder you have fuller trucks. More Canadians are building things that need shipping.

That’s the latest from Statistics Canada, which released Canada’s manufacturing sales figures for March this week.

Manufacturing sales rose 1.9 percent (up by $188 million) to $7.5 billion over February. (That month saw a drop of 1.8% over January.)

More than half the gain was in the transportation-equipment sector, which expanded 6.3 percent.

The greatest gains were felt in the aerospace and car industries. Sales in the motor vehicle industry have gone up in eight of the last 12 months.

Sales also rose significantly in the machinery and paper businesses.

In March, nine provinces, let by Alberta and Quebec, all posted increased sales.

Overall, for the first quarter of 2011, manufacturing in the country rose 4 percent over 2010.

Sales in Q1 of 2011 were highest since the third quarter of 2008.

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