Statistics Canada
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May 2007
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Note to readers
Effective today, Statistics Canada has updated the Consumer Price Index to reflect changes in the spending patterns of Canadian households.
The update, which occurs periodically, is designed to ensure the CPI's reliability for three key purposes: a measure of inflation, a statistical series deflator, and a tool for indexing various payments and transfers.
With this updated basket, the 12-month change in the all-items index was 0.1 percentage points higher than its movement would have been based on the 2001 basket. This increase reflects the updating of weights and the introduction of new goods and services into the CPI.
The weights of various items in the basket of goods and services used to calculate the index have been updated from 2001 to 2005. In addition, the CPI base year (the period for which the value 100 is assigned to the index) has changed from 1992 to 2002.
The base period 1992=100 will continue to be available for the all-items index level. The Consumer Price Index with the base period 1986=100 will be discontinued.
Users should note that the changeover to the base year 2002=100 will in no way alter rates of changes measured for previous periods, barring rounding.
The weights for the various components of the basket of goods and services are being updated on the basis of the most recent Survey of Household Spending (SHS). The update ensures that the CPI reflects any changes in the consumption patterns of Canadians.
The weights between January 2003 and April 2007 are based on 2001 consumption patterns. The new basket is based on patterns captured by the 2005 SHS.
