Consumers paid less for gas at the pump in June compared to May, and that helped cool annual inflation to 2.8 per cent, according to Statistics Canada.
The agency released the latest Consumer Price Index (CPI) Monday, which is the main gauge on inflation for Canadian consumers. The headline inflation figure was down from May’s year-over-year reading of 3.2 per cent.
Gas prices surged over the spring mostly because of conflict in the Middle East, but a tentative peace agreement between the United States and Iran took pressure off global oil prices over the course of June. Renewed hostilities between the nations have pushed prices at the pump higher again in recent weeks.
Taking gas prices out of the equation, Statistics Canada said inflation was unchanged at 2.2 per cent from May to June.
Price hikes at the grocery store also eased to 3.9 per cent in June, down from 4.3 per cent in May.
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June also marked the 17th straight month that grocery price inflation increased more than the headline inflation reading.
Consumers saw prices for fresh fruit rise at a slower pace in June, driven by lower costs for grapes, the CPI report said. But price hikes accelerated for fresh or frozen chicken, some bakery goods and items from the freezer section, offsetting those slowdowns.
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FIFA World Cup games in Toronto and Vancouver, meanwhile, saw costs for travel-related services like accommodation and rental cars surge in June. The cost of traveller accommodation was up around 20 per cent year-over-year in Ontario and British Columbia last month.
Air transportation costs also jumped 9.6 per cent annually, marking the biggest increase in more than three years. Statistics Canada said higher jet fuel costs and stronger demand for domestic travel drove the increase.
The Bank of Canada has kept its key interest rate steady at 2.25 per cent for six straight meetings as it seeks to keep the CPI within a target range of one and three per cent for year-over-year inflation.
At last week’s rate announcement, the central bank signaled that there were few signs that price pressures from the Iran war were spilling over into broader inflation.
– with files from The Canadian Press
Gas today is $2.049/liter here in Surrey.
It is nice that as prices fell it yet again proved how reliant the world still is on gas/oil/petrol, including Canada.
Most normal people were happy until more shenanigans occured.
But too many still think what makes the world possible needs to be ended, regardless of economic prosperity and the freedoms associated with it.
China is seemingly proving that regular Nuclear reactors are probably better solutons than the mini ones our Carney government is promoting because he is invested in the sector. A regular sized reactor capable of more output was allegedly completed before a mini reactor built on the same island that is late and well enough over budget.
Not that anyone with a brain bigger than a grain of salt should trust much of what China says is true, the IAEA has verified nothing as of yet.
But, if true, that would mark yet another failed Liberal investment strategy, and there have been far too many already.
Canada needs the following for economic security, prosperity, and to become less reliant on other countries be they the US or any other frail international relationship:
1. A complete oil and gass sector from mining to refining to international markets. It makes no sense to say that shipping oil abroad just to be refined reduces atmospheric carbon. It creates more whether it goes by ship or pipeline and we lose complete control of our own environmental considerations.
2. Reintroduction of legal standards for measures and weights that bans shrinkflation and sets minimum standards for all packaged goods sold.
There is nothing more incurable of waste than a variable that constantly changes and has no calculable pattern to it that can be maintained as a standard.
Shrinkflation stops us from setting sound environmental policies and frankly, is used to sway or obscure inflation analysis while also obscuring the health and viability of the capital markets we depend on for literaly everything we know and experience that is made by humans.
3. We need to stop pretending people have more rights than those enshrined in our Constitution and Charter and there needs to be real accountability for governments, their employees, lawmakers and judges that violate them.
When it comes to a percieved violation of our rights, we should not be required to be victims ad suffer real loss before we can seek legal remedy.
This can be easily argued from the cruel and unusual punishment we are protected from.
4. There needs to be real limits on what lawmakers can do in terms of expense accounts, international travel, and the raising of debt.
It might surprise some Canadians to hear this, but our “greedy banks” from around the world and indeed here in Canada have government imposed restrictions, expressed in ratios, as to how much debt they can hold vs how much it has on hand in liquidable assets.
This is done, because both Econonists and Governments agree that without these “Liquidity” or “Capital” requirements, we can experiece cascading domino effects if even one part of the system collapses.
Our Governments, on the other had, can take on virtually unlimited debts, despite available taxation revenues and financial reserves, including your CPP.
Why the double standard? Because of math. Unlike an individual of limited capacity, a Government has near infinite capacity. If the government lacks revenue to cover expenses it can:
*raise taxation levels
*create incentives to encourage spending that generates more tax revenue
*cut services or limit extraneous spending that is not operationally critical
*physically increase the number of taxpayers with targeted immigration increasing tax revenue
While these things are possible from a mathematical perspective or under standard lending practices, there should be some limits placed on annual government debt creation if we want to avoid catastrophic economic impacts.
If the worst of what Liberals say of climate change is true, they had better stop wasting money on things that do not help us fight that fight.
Our fires have not increased in total land consumed in decades, save for a few outliers, what has changed is our government’s efforts.
Taxing industry for CO2 output, hurting our econony, while allowing 10 times the amount of CO2 in wild fires?
Enough with the abuse. Our Constitution is all but dead due to amendments that made future amendments near impossible. A Constitution is not one if the document is no longer living. People do elect MPs based on, yes, the individual and moreso, the political party they are affiliated with as this is used by all of them to highlight their political influence.
Indeed, historically speaking, we have condemned for their affiliations and still do.
My point being, our Constitution has been gamed and overridden by its elite participants, and no longer represents the values intended.
I support and appreciate not only a need for fundamental changes to our civilization, but to the opinions of people that disagree with me.
If you disagree, please tell me why rather than wasting your time on some insult that will never impact my opinion. Let’s have a conversation instead.
Canada has some of the worst food inflation in the G20. Carney at the last election said to judge him by prices in the grocery stores. Yet again, Carney has not kept his promises and let down Canadians by failing to deliver.
@Tim bits Respectfully, Poilievre specifically said the consumer carbon tax. Plus, the Bank of Canada stated that carbon taxes contribute .15% of inflation. It’s much better to focus on the oligopoly in the retail food industry. Perhaps Poilievre can stop meeting with grocery executives who are raising food prices to pad their books.
Still no raises for the working class and all us that struggle. Bosses got new company vehicles and paid meals though.
in that case time do it the liberal way and let another billion in from India
@Ben Oh boy are you out to lunch!!! Yes Poilievre said get rid of the carbon tax .. ALL of it !! But Carney, as usual tried pulling a fast one by only removing the consumer carbon tax and leaving the REAL culprit that is to blame for food inflation, the INDUSTRIAL carbon tax which affects EVERY food producer and delivery made to stores and which is directly passed on to customers as increases occur due to that tax. Try at least to be a bit honest in future. Oh Wait … being an elbows up Liberal, you just can’t do that can you Ben.
Gas went down but food prices went up maybe not as much but they went up and that’s the bottom line here. Food prices keep going up even though we are in the summer growing season what’s going to happen in the winter months that’s the big question. Trying to paint a rosy picture of everything is getting better isn’t working Canadians are facing higher prices every month and feeling their standard of living lowering. It’s about time Carney and this Liberal government did something to help All Canadians in this economy
While it may seem a small inflation for one month it’s on top of 17 months of continuous inflation. All smoke and mirrors to make Carney and this Liberal government good when if fact it’s pathetic
Poilievre said that getting rid of the carbon tax, which Carney did, would get rid of food inflation. Then Poilievre took credit when Carney got rid of it. I’m glad we have an educated man running the country instead of someone who quit his University studies in 2002.
Lmao
Canada has some of the highest food inflation in the G20. A total failure by Mark Carney. He isn’t delivering on his election promises
There are a couple major cost categories to consumers I never hear talked about. Annual property tax increases, and quarterly actual spending by all three levels of government !
How come the article doesn’t mention Ukraine’s terrorist-style attacks on Russian grain carrying ships as a (potential) cause of food price increases?
Wait…. when the liberals introduced carbon taxes on top of gas prices, they told us that it would affect the cost of living and that conservatives hated Mother Earth. Now that gas prices have dropped, they claim credit for the positive economic effects.
The question now (and always was) is: why are liberal voters so stupid?