Canadian Inflation Stalled at 3%, But It’s Higher In All But Two Provinces

Canadian inflation didn’t get worse—unless you live in the majority of provinces. Statistics Canada (StatCan) data shows inflation stalled in August, with slowing gas prices helping to calm growth. While national growth stalled at the Bank of Canada’s critical upper threshold, that would be considered slow in most of the country. A provincial breakdown shows most provinces are significantly above the national average, especially in Atlantic Canada. Canadian Headline CPI Stalls, Remains At BoC Upper Tolerance CPI annual growth rate. Source: StatCan. Headline inflation remained flat at 3.0% annual growth reported in August, unchanged from July. Most of the climb in recent months has been attributed to gas prices, and the slight deceleration helped to slow the march beyond 3.0%. However, CPI excluding gasoline’s annual growth accelerated to 2.4% in August from 2.2% a month before. That’s still relatively tame growth, but it indicates the upward pressure on prices is broadening. The main driver of CPI’s annual growth continues to be gasoline (+22.8%), where growth remains lofty despite the slowdown. It was followed by Travel Tours (+26.1%), and rent (+2.8%), rounding out the top 3. Ren...