Consumer Price Index, August 2018

Released: 2018-09-21

The Consumer Price Index (CPI) rose 2.8% on a year-over-year basis in August, following a 3.0% increase in July. Excluding gasoline, the CPI increased 2.2%, matching the gain in July.

Chart 1 
The 12-month change in the Consumer Price Index (CPI) and the CPI excluding gasoline

Component highlights

Prices were up in all eight major components in the 12 months to August. The transportation index rose at a slower pace in August (+7.2%) than in July (+8.1%), but remained the largest contributor to the year-over-year increase in consumer prices.

Chart 2 
Consumer prices increase in all major components

Year-over-year prices for non-durable goods (+3.8%) increased at a more moderate pace in August than in July (+4.4%). Gasoline prices rose 19.9% in the 12 months to August, following a 25.4% year-over-year increase in July. Prices for water, fuel and electricity, up 2.2% year over year, rose at a slower rate compared with July (+3.0%).

Prices for durable goods rose 1.1% year over year, following a 0.8% increase in July. The purchase of passenger vehicles index (+2.3%) rose more on a year-over-year basis in August than in the previous month (+2.0%). The gain was largely attributable to the greater availability of 2019 model-year vehicles compared with the same month last year.

The price of services (+3.1%) rose more slowly on a year-over-year basis in August after increasing 3.2% in July. Month-over-month decreases in the cost of travel tours and air transportation, which reflect the winding down of the summer travel season, were larger in August 2018 than in August 2017. This was attributable to smaller seasonal increases in July 2017 during celebrations related to Canada's 150th birthday.

Regional highlights

Prices rose less on a year-over-year basis in eight provinces in August compared with the previous month. Year-over-year increases in Nova Scotia (+2.7%) and Ontario (+3.1%) were unchanged from July.

Chart 3 
Consumer prices rise at a slower rate in eight provinces

On a year-over-year basis, the CPI in Saskatchewan (+2.2%) increased at a slower rate compared with the other provinces. The telephone services index (-6.9%) declined at a faster pace in Saskatchewan than elsewhere in the country. Prices for passenger vehicle insurance premiums (+0.1%) and homeowners' home and mortgage insurance (+6.5%) increased less in August than in July. Changes to Saskatchewan's Provincial Sales Tax (PST), which increased the cost of insurance products in August 2017, no longer influenced the 12-month movement for these services.

Seasonally adjusted monthly Consumer Price Index

On a seasonally adjusted monthly basis, the CPI rose 0.1% in August, following a 0.5% increase in July. Seven of eight major components increased, while the clothing and footwear index was unchanged.

Chart 4 
Seasonally adjusted consumer prices increase in seven of eight major components

Products

More information about the concepts and use of the Consumer Price Index (CPI) is available in The Canadian Consumer Price Index Reference Paper (Catalogue number62-553-X).

For information on the history of the CPI in Canada, consult the publication Exploring the First Century of Canada's Consumer Price Index (Catalogue number62-604-X).

Two videos, "An Overview of Canada's Consumer Price Index (CPI)" and "The Consumer Price Index and Your Experience of Price Change," are available on Statistics Canada's YouTube channel.

Contact information

For more information, or to enquire about the concepts, methods or data quality of this release, contact us (toll-free 1-800-263-1136; 514-283-8300; STATCAN.infostats-infostats.STATCAN@canada.ca) or Media Relations (613-951-4636; STATCAN.mediahotline-ligneinfomedias.STATCAN@canada.ca).