(Ottawa) Statistics Canada is updating the basket of goods it uses to measure inflation to increase the importance of food in the calculation, as Canadians spend more on groceries and restaurants.
The agency says that the share of the food basket has increased the most among the main components.
Food now represents 16.72% of the basket of goods used to measure inflation, compared to 16.13% a year earlier. Food from stores makes up 10.82% of the basket, up from 10.62%, while food from restaurants makes up 5.90%, up from 5.51%.
The basket share for the leisure, education and reading category, which includes travel accommodation and package tours, also increased from 9.98% to 10.42%. The share of the housing component increased from 28.22% to 28.57%, driven by rising mortgage interest costs and rising rental prices.
The household current expenditure, furnishings and equipment component saw the largest reduction in basket share, falling from 14.57% to 13.46%. The relative weight of alcoholic beverages, tobacco products and recreational cannabis was 4.17%, down from 4.47%.
Statistics Canada’s Consumer Price Index, the country’s best-known measure of inflation, is used in a variety of ways, including to adjust retirement payments, income tax deductions and some social programs governments.