Okay, so Canada's inflation rate shrunk to its post-recession low last month, and apparently we all have cheaper gasoline prices to thank.
(Although I find it hard to call $1.20-plus a litre cheap – I still remember filling up the old VW Bug with a $20 bill and getting back enough change to buy food for my pet dodo, but I digress.)
A break at the pump is always welcome – especially just ahead of a long weekend – but gasoline is but one component of the consumer price index.
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And it's one so prone to monthly mood swings that it is pointedly excluded from Statistics Canada's "core" inflation reading, which is considered a more reliable picture of the country's underlying inflation trend. Not that we should ignore it, but it's just a small and notoriously unreliable part of the bigger picture.
On that note, let's give some press to prices last month for a selection of other CPI components that may get overlooked a bit in the monthly inflation discussion, but that matter to many consumers nevertheless. (Percentage changes, April vs. March)
Going up
- Sirloin steak, up 1.5 per cent (a sign we’ve entered barbecue season, perhaps?)
- Bacon, 1.3 per cent
- Corn flakes, 4.3 per cent
- Sugar, 4.7 per cent
- Waters/fuel/electricity utilities, 1 per cent
- Public transportation, 1.5 per cent
Going down
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- Coffee, down 1.8 per cent
- Orange juice, 2 per cent
- Butter, 1.6 per cent
- Apples, 2.1 per cent
- Food from restaurants, 0.8 per cent
- Clothing, 1.7 per cent
Going sideways
- Milk, unchanged
- Eggs, down 0.3 per cent
- Bread, down 0.3 per cent
- Cigarettes, up 0.1 per cent
- Alcoholic beverages, up 0.2 per cent
- Rent, up 0.1 per cent