Canada's headline inflation barometer struck 6.7 per cent in March, an annual rate that Statistics Canada said hasn't been seen since January 1991 when the consumer price index registered a 6.9 per cent annual reading.
While gasoline prices are big part of the picture, having jumped last month by 39.8 per cent compared with March 2021, price pressures are far broader. Pet owners, for instance, have seen costs for food and supplies for their companions rise by 9.7 per cent year over year.
Here's a look at how much some prices have gone up between March 2021 and March 2022 at the grocery store:
- Margarine: 27.8 per cent
- Oranges: 23.9 per cent
- Sugar and syrup: 20.8 per cent
- Bacon: 17.9 per cent
- Beef: 14.1 per cent
- Jam and jelly: 13.9 per cent
- Lettuce: 12.4 per cent
- Coffee: 10.6 per cent
- Milk (whole and low-fat): 7.7 per cent
- Apples: 6.2 per cent
- Canned tuna: 5.8 per cent
- Baby food: 4.5 per cent
- Potatoes: -1.2 per cent
- Tomatoes: - 1.8 per cent
Looking to blow off some steam? The cost of snacking has also gone up, as too has the cost for alcohol purchased from stores. Here's the year-over-year increase for some items:
- Cookies and crackers: 6.1 per cent
- Ice cream: 5.2 per cent
- Potato chips: 3.2 per cent
- Beer: 4.2 per cent
- Wine: 2 per cent
- Liquor: 1.8 per cent
Data released Wednesday by Statistics Canada also shows that some prices like those for cannabis actually declined year-over-year in March, or showed little price change, such as digital economy services that were up 0.2 per cent compared with the same month one year earlier.
- Women's clothing: -0.1 per cent
- Internet services: -0.9 per cent
- Children's clothing: -2.9 per cent
- Cellular services: -3.3 per cent
- Mortgage interest cost: -5.4 per cent
- Recreational cannabis: -8.3 per cent
- Medicinal cannabis: - 10.2 per cent
This report by The Canadian Press was first published April 20, 2022.
