It seems to be an issue in very specific areas, rather than a general downturn. I live in a medium sized (350,000) city 2 hours outside of Toronto. While Toronto house prices are insane, ours have been very steady, and affordable. During the recession in the 80's, prices dropped about 5% here. During 2008-2010, we didn't really see much impact at all on housing. Some slowdown on construction, and again, a small price drop. Since then, there has been steady growth in prices year over year that regained the drops, and now pretty much match increases in the COL. Housing starts are still very strong, and the sold signs pop up quickly on resales.
The malls are busy, and people actually are carrying bags/spending money, not just window shopping. The manufacturing segment here has had trouble though, and those jobs are disappearing fast. Lots of white color jobs, but blue collar is getting squeezed.
I really don't know what to think about this downturn, except to say it doesn't "feel" like previous ones. We are in our 60's now, and have lived through multiple recessions, housing downturns, high unemployment, etc. This one does not have us worried as of yet, anyway.