The Consumer Price Index rose 2.4 percent on a year-over-year basis in October, following a 2.2 percent increase in September, according to new data from Statistics Canada.
All eight major components rose year over year in July. Month over month, the CPI increased 0.3 percent, with prices for airfares, passenger vehicles and travel tours accelerating the most.
Prices rose in all major components in the 12 months to October, with the transportation (+4.3 percent) and shelter (+2.5 percent) indexes contributing most to the increase. Gasoline prices rose 12 percent year over year in October, matching September's increase.
Prices for durable goods increased 0.9 percent in the 12 months to October. With lower rebates and more new model-year vehicles available, the purchase of passenger vehicles index rose 1.7 percent on a year-over-year basis, after increasing 0.6 percent in September.
The price of services rose 2.7 percent on a year-over-year basis in October. Prices for travel tours were up 3 percent on a year-over-year basis, after decreasing 4.4 percent in September. On a month-over-month basis, air transportation prices rose 4.6 percent. Mortgage interest costs increased 7 percent in the 12 months to October, reflecting interest rate increases in the past year.
Prices rose in every province on a year-over-year basis in October.
Increases in the property tax and other special charges index (priced annually in October) were larger in Newfoundland and Labrador, Prince Edward Island and Nova Scotia compared with the previous year, but smaller in Ontario and Western Canada. Property tax rates decreased in New Brunswick (-0.1 percent) and in Quebec (-1.7 percent), where Bill 166 harmonized Quebec's provincial school taxes and introduced a property owner's exemption.
Prices for fuel oil and other fuels rose at a faster rate in Atlantic Canada in October, as colder temperatures set in. In Central and Western Canada, where natural gas is more commonly used for home heating, the impact of higher prices for fuel oil was smaller. Canadian consumers paid 3.9 percent less for natural gas compared with October 2017.
In Ontario, energy prices fell 2.4 percent on a month-over-month basis, following the termination of the carbon cap and trade program introduced in January 2017. Prices for gasoline (-4percent) and natural gas (-1percent) declined month over month in October.
