[Wheatfield]

Im not surprised, the photography industry is kind of like the canary in the coal mine. The economy in canada isnt what it was, costs go up faster than wages. Only the wealthy still have money to spare, that and people spend all of their extra cash on cell phones.

Without wanting to get into a political discussion, as that is a rules violation, the sad fact is, the entire planet is being economically destabilized and held hostage, mostly by one person and one country. In times of economic uncertainty, people close their wallets to discretionary purchases.
Let’s face it, very few people really need a new camera or lens no matter how much they justify want as need. Also, the industry is reaching maturity. We aren’t seeing the jumps in features that were common even just a few years ago. There just isn’t a lot of new stuff happening now.
With luck, some semblance of rational thought will prevail and things will change for the better next November.

---------- Post added 04-12-19 at 11:40 AM ----------

Paying attention to recent television commercials suggests that interest in quality cameras and photography is at an unprecedented high.

I've never seen so many prime-time ads touting the latest camera features and abilities ... of smart phones. Watching the commercials almost makes you forget that the darn things also make phone calls. Serious money is being spent on trying to convince us our photos would look better on the iPhone, Samsung, LG, or Huawei; that each one has better software, multiple cameras, or flash-free low light abilities.

Sad thing is, Pentax, Nikon, Canon, or Olympus never had that kind of budget to pitch their latest wares to the masses. If you saw a Nikon commercial on TV at all, it was late night (and Ashton Kutcher was showing off the mirrorless J1).

Clear to see there's big money in selling cameras ... just not by our favourite old companies.

The beauty of the cell phone market is that there is little reason to not upgrade them every couple of years when it’s time to sign a new contract. This is a product category that has just about the highest market saturation of any product line in history. Nearly everybody has one of the things, and by marketing them the way they are marketed, people see an upgrade every couple of years as a pretty natural thing to do.