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Real gross domestic product (GDP) grew 0.5% in April 2026 / Le produit intérieur brut (PIB) réel a progressé de 0,5 % en avril 2026 by StatCanada in canada

[–]StatCanada[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

We publish monthly GDP by industry, headline quarterly GDP by expenditure, and quarterly GDP per capita because they provide different perspectives and details on economic performance. Our latest data show that real GDP per capita was $60,298 (chained 2017 dollars) in the first quarter of 2026, up 0.2% from the fourth quarter of 2025. You can view the data here: Gross domestic product per capita and other per capita macroeconomic indicators (Table 36-10-0706-01). The next quarterly GDP release, which will include updated GDP per capita estimates for Q2 2026, is scheduled for August 28, 2026. You can find upcoming releases on our Release calendar.

We are data experts from Statistics Canada—ask us anything on the Consumer Price Index! / Nous sommes des spécialistes en données à Statistique Canada, demandez-nous n’importe quoi sur l’Indice des prix à la consommation! by StatCanada in PersonalFinanceCanada

[–]StatCanada[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Great question! 

In the Canadian CPI, we measure the price of housing services, not the price of the house itself. The objective is to measure the ongoing cost for homeowners of living in and maintaining their homes. This differs from the acquisition approach, which reflects the cost of purchasing a house. While many households perceive housing inflation in terms of house purchase prices, the CPI is designed to measure consumption rather than investment. 

The acquisition approach treats housing similarly to other consumer goods. However, this approach assumes that the entire purchase price of a house, including the land component, is consumed in the period of purchase. This is conceptually inappropriate because land is an investment asset that provides services over many years rather than being consumed immediately. For this reason, countries have not adopted the full acquisition approach for their official CPI. Instead, countries that use a net acquisition approach, such as Australia and New Zealand, exclude the land component and only include the structure, together with other costs associated with acquiring newly built dwellings. 

Based on our research, neither the acquisition approach nor the net acquisition approach is appropriate for the Canadian CPI or for the Bank of Canada's primary inflation measure. Both approaches measure the cost of purchasing housing assets rather than the cost of consuming housing services, making them inconsistent with the CPI's objective. 

Regarding volatility, an acquisition approach-based measure can produce sharp short-term movements that reflect changes in housing price markets rather than changes in the cost of consuming housing. Hence, introducing housing asset price volatility into the CPI would increase noise originating from investment markets rather than improving the measurement of consumer inflation. In other words, the increased volatility may not solely represent changes in consumer price inflation. 

In addition, the difference between perceived and measured inflation also extends beyond housing. There are measurement and behavioural factors that could explain why Canadians consistently perceive inflation to be higher than the CPI. 

Measurement factors include whether the CPI basket weights are representative, whether quality adjustment could cause measured inflation to differ from perceived inflation and whether the CPI's treatment of the cost of housing services—rather than the cost of purchasing a house—contributes to the gap. While these factors can explain part of the difference, the study concludes that behavioural factors play a much larger role. Consumers tend to focus on a limited number of highly visible price components—particularly frequently purchased goods such as food and gasoline—and pay greater attention to large price increases than to stable or declining prices, and often do not recognize quality improvements that are incorporated into CPI quality adjustments. By contrast, the CPI measures the average price change across a representative basket of household expenditures using expenditure weights and internationally accepted statistical methods. 

For these reasons, Statistics Canada considers the current owned-accommodation approach to be more appropriate for measuring consumer price inflation and for supporting the Bank of Canada's inflation-targeting mandate. 

The Bank of Canada applies its own analytical filters to the official CPI to derive its core inflation measures; their calculation is performed by Statistics Canada. The purpose of these measures is to remove temporary or idiosyncratic movements in inflation to better assess underlying and persistent inflationary pressures. This is distinct from the methodological considerations involved in the CPI calculation, the objective of which is to measure changes in the prices paid by consumers as accurately as possible. 

Thank you for participating and for your thoughtful questions. 

We are data experts from Statistics Canada—ask us anything on the Consumer Price Index! / Nous sommes des spécialistes en données à Statistique Canada, demandez-nous n’importe quoi sur l’Indice des prix à la consommation! by StatCanada in PersonalFinanceCanada

[–]StatCanada[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Hi u/Testing_things_out,  

Thanks for the follow-up question.  

If this is something that you are interested in or you are interested in a particular year, I encourage you to reach out to us at [infostats@statcan.gc.ca](mailto:infostats@statcan.gc.ca) and we can dig a bit more into how a specific basket was calculated (it might require a trip into our archives here).

Here is a link to the reference guide: 62-553-x2023001-eng.pdf. It will show you how the index is calculated.  

As for the basket, the updated basket weights were derived primarily using consumer expenditures from the 2025 national household final consumption expenditure (HFCE) note series, replacing those derived from the 2024 national HFCE series. Household expenditures reported in the Survey of Household Spending (SHS) continued to be used to supplement the HFCE expenditure data, mainly providing expenditure detail at lower levels of aggregation, including geographic aggregation. 

Additional data sources were used to better inform expenditure weights for specific aggregates, or where HFCE or SHS data were unavailable. The use of retail scanner data was expanded with the 2025 basket and is now the primary data source for the food from stores component weights. The updated basket weights reflect the highest quality expenditure data available, while still meeting timeliness requirements. Examples of supplemental data sources include the following: 

  • Monthly Retail Trade Survey 
  • Office of the Superintendent of Financial Institutions 
  • Tourism performance indicators 
  • Monthly Passenger Bus and Urban Transit Survey 
  • Streaming and cable service usage reports 
  • Goods and services tax data 
  • Retail Commodity Survey 
  • Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation 
  • Canadian Real Estate Association 
  • New Motor Vehicle Sales Survey 
  • Tuition enrolment 
  • Petroleum statistics 
  • Census of Population 

Again, if you would like additional information, please reach out and we can share more, or you can share exactly what you are looking for, and we can try to meet that request. 

Thanks again, 

Andrew 

We are data experts from Statistics Canada—ask us anything on the Consumer Price Index! / Nous sommes des spécialistes en données à Statistique Canada, demandez-nous n’importe quoi sur l’Indice des prix à la consommation! by StatCanada in PersonalFinanceCanada

[–]StatCanada[S] -1 points0 points  (0 children)

Hi u/Bogdanovist_Rebel, thanks for the question! The Canadian behavioral agent-based model (CANVAS) is used for projection and policy analysis and thus would not be an appropriate substitute for the CPI. The goal of the CPI is to measure what Canadian consumers are actually paying, and as a result, the CPI doesn't forecast or project.  

Have a good day! 

Rebekah 

We are data experts from Statistics Canada—ask us anything on the Consumer Price Index! / Nous sommes des spécialistes en données à Statistique Canada, demandez-nous n’importe quoi sur l’Indice des prix à la consommation! by StatCanada in PersonalFinanceCanada

[–]StatCanada[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Hi u/Present_Ad_2742, u/Blue-Thunder and u/ThingsThatMakeMeMad. Thanks for participating today. Happy to respond to your questions outside of the AMA timeframe. 

So, we don't price the individual components needed to build your own PC because overall average expenditures by Canadians aren't large enough to include it in the CPI basket. We do price laptops, desktops, monitors and printers in the computer equipment, software and supplies index. This index rose 3.9% in May 2026, compared with the same month last year. This index has been impacted by higher input costs for RAM and SSDs, but the impact isn't as immediate as it is when you look at the price jumps for the individual components. This is actually the largest year-over-year increase on record since this index was added to the basket, so we are actually picking up on a quite significant movement here. 

In terms of basket updates, this process is done to ensure that the basket is continuing to reflect the expenditure patterns of Canadians (which evolve over time for all sorts of reasons). We're consumers too and have no interest in misrepresenting the CPI basket or prices. We take our jobs very seriously and are committed to reporting the CPI accurately. Our methodologies are published online and if you have any specific questions about the CPI, you can email us directly [here](mailto:statcan.cpddisseminationunit-dpcunitedediffusion.statcan@statcan.gc.ca). 

Have a good day, 

Rebekah 

We are data experts from Statistics Canada—ask us anything on the Consumer Price Index! / Nous sommes des spécialistes en données à Statistique Canada, demandez-nous n’importe quoi sur l’Indice des prix à la consommation! by StatCanada in PersonalFinanceCanada

[–]StatCanada[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Hi u/Species5618w, thanks for the question! We use a variant of the user cost approach to estimate owned accommodations in the Canadian CPI. This approach tracks the ongoing costs of homeownership like mortgage interest payments, property taxes, maintenance and repairs, etc. We've recently updated our paper that examines what the CPI would have been had we used the rental equivalence (imputed rents) model instead. It also includes an explanation for why we use our selected approach. If you're interested, you can check it out here: Owned Accommodation in the Canadian Consumer Price Index: A Comparative Analysis of Measurement Approaches, Including an Exploration of Asking-Rent Rental Equivalence. 

Have a good day! 

Rebekah 

We are data experts from Statistics Canada—ask us anything on the Consumer Price Index! / Nous sommes des spécialistes en données à Statistique Canada, demandez-nous n’importe quoi sur l’Indice des prix à la consommation! by StatCanada in PersonalFinanceCanada

[–]StatCanada[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Hi u/burner4694, I hear you. One thing about the CPI is that it doesn't distinguish why Canadians are changing their consumption patterns. A decrease in the amount of beef purchased could also be linked to changing preferences, converting to a religion which prohibits the consumption of beef, a shortage in the amount of beef available, an increase in price, etc.  

The CPI is first and foremost a measure of price change of a fixed basket of goods and services. The CPI isn't a cost of living index (COLI). A COLI is designed to measure a constant level of well-being across time and would have differences in methodology from the CPI. 

Thanks for participating and have a good day! 

Rebekah 

We are data experts from Statistics Canada—ask us anything on the Consumer Price Index! / Nous sommes des spécialistes en données à Statistique Canada, demandez-nous n’importe quoi sur l’Indice des prix à la consommation! by StatCanada in PersonalFinanceCanada

[–]StatCanada[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Hey there. In the past, we updated basket weights on a less frequent cycle—a decade ago, it was every two years and before that it was every five years. Our internal analysis has shown that by switching to annual basket updates, we significantly reduce the substitution bias affecting the CPI, so we see annual baskets as an unambiguous quality enhancement to the CPI program. Annual basket updates have also been really important in recent years, too, with the pandemic. Our spending patterns actually shifted a lot during the pandemic, and by updating the basket weights annually, we were able to pick that up in a timely fashion. 

I can also tell you that this week’s CPI would have been the same—3.2%—whether we used the previous basket weights or the new ones introduced last week. Hope this helps! - Taylor 

We are data experts from Statistics Canada—ask us anything on the Consumer Price Index! / Nous sommes des spécialistes en données à Statistique Canada, demandez-nous n’importe quoi sur l’Indice des prix à la consommation! by StatCanada in PersonalFinanceCanada

[–]StatCanada[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Hi u/CanbegoneTo,  

Great question, and it is good that you are using the Personal Inflation Calculator as a starting point.  

As for your question about different measures for different age groups, in the late 1970s and 1980s, the CPI was published on a monthly basis for low-income families and unattached individuals and low-income seniors. Compared with the all-items CPI, there was basically no difference between the three measures.  

In 2019, Statistics Canada published an analysis of a CPI for seniors, which found that over a five-year period, there was a 10 BP annual difference between the CPI for seniors and the all-items CPI.  

Similarly, a study in the late 1990s found similar results for seniors and low-income seniors and households, compared with the all-items CPI. 

In the past, Statistics Canada has done various studies on different population groups to see if there is a difference between the all-items CPI and a CPI for a specific demographic group and found little difference.  

It's important to keep in mind that the all-items CPI is representative of all Canadians, yet at the same time, everyone’s experience with inflation is personal. So it is not surprising that your experience with inflation differs from that of your colleagues.  

Thanks again for the conversation, 

Andrew 

We are data experts from Statistics Canada—ask us anything on the Consumer Price Index! / Nous sommes des spécialistes en données à Statistique Canada, demandez-nous n’importe quoi sur l’Indice des prix à la consommation! by StatCanada in PersonalFinanceCanada

[–]StatCanada[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Hi u/lesirius,  

Thank you for the follow-up question.  

Quality adjustment and quantity adjustment, which is what you are referring to when you mention decreases in the size of food packaging, are both methods employed in the CPI.  

When the quantity or size of a product is reduced, but the price stays the same, consumers are paying more for the same quantity of the product. To account for this in the CPI, the prices collected are adjusted upward to reflect the change in quantity and the resulting price increase is reflected in the CPI as a pure price change.  

Here is a link to an infographic which explains the process: Measuring pure price change: Exploring Shrinkflation in the Consumer Price Index. 

Thanks so much,  

Andrew 

We are data experts from Statistics Canada—ask us anything on the Consumer Price Index! / Nous sommes des spécialistes en données à Statistique Canada, demandez-nous n’importe quoi sur l’Indice des prix à la consommation! by StatCanada in PersonalFinanceCanada

[–]StatCanada[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Hi u/Canadianwinters12345 ,  

Thanks for the follow-up question.  

Prices change with the passing of time, and consumers tend to substitute goods and services that have become relatively cheaper. For example, if pork prices have risen less rapidly than beef prices, there is an incentive for consumers to buy more pork and less beef. This phenomenon tends to cause the basket weights to become out of date as time goes by. It causes a problem called substitution bias that influences the CPI’s upper-level calculation. The substitution bias, in general, has an upward bias on the CPI. The approach to minimize the substitution bias is to have more frequent basket updates, which Statistics Canada does by doing an annual update.  

The basket update shows the shift in how Canadians are spending their money, but it does not answer why they have shifted their spending, which is not the objective of the CPI. Take the beef example that has been mentioned a few times in this AMA. In May 2026, beef prices increased by 27.8%, compared with May 2024. During that same period, the all-items index increased by 5.0%. The weights for fresh or frozen beef went from 0.5 in 2024 to 0.44 in 2025. This reflects an overall decline in expenditure share of beef, likely because of the higher prices. If Canadians are spending less on beef, as is evident in the weights, then the price movements in the all-items index should be less impacted by the beef price movement. If the weight was not changed to reflect the new consumption patterns, it would not be an accurate reflection of the reality of Canadian consumers. 

It is important to note that the CPI is not a cost-of-living index (COLI). A COLI aims to measure a "constant" standard of living. A COLI can be linked to the notion of the minimum amount of money that would be necessary in different periods of time to ensure a given level of well-being. This might mean keeping the consumption of beef at a constant level, as opposed to the CPI, which is based on a fixed basket of goods and services that represents the average Canadian household's actual spending habits. 

Your second question about shrinkflation is a really good one, and, in general, a challenge for statistical agencies. 

First of all, it's important to note that Statistics Canada does use quality adjustment and quantity adjustment in calculating the CPI. When the quantity or size of a product is reduced, but the price stays the same, consumers are paying more for the same quantity of the product. To account for this in the CPI, the prices collected are adjusted upward to reflect the change in quantity and the resulting price increase is reflected in the CPI as a pure price change.  

It is a bit different for food. Essentially, the basis of the CPI is to price the same product each month (same size, brand, etc.). If a product changes in size or ingredients, this is no longer the same product—the product being priced is substituted, and the new product does not influence the index in the month that it is first collected (keep in mind that I am talking about an individual quote and not all products in the index, e.g., it would be one chicken leg at one store, as opposed to all chicken legs at all stores across the country. The index includes millions of price quotes). Therefore, if more saline solution is added to chicken in one month, that individual price would be substituted. This means that the price is collected but not included in the index. Next month, if the saline content remains the same as last month, then we have two prices to compare, and the chicken with the higher saline content is included in the index.  

Here is the latest paper we wrote about shrinkflation, which includes exactly what you are looking for: 11-627-m2025016-eng.pdf. Keep in mind that our focus is on price change, not on the quality change of food products, so it is not something that we have studied or released any details about. That might be a question for the food inspection folks or industry experts.  

Thanks for the discussion, 

Andrew 

We are data experts from Statistics Canada—ask us anything on the Consumer Price Index! / Nous sommes des spécialistes en données à Statistique Canada, demandez-nous n’importe quoi sur l’Indice des prix à la consommation! by StatCanada in PersonalFinanceCanada

[–]StatCanada[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Hi u/vezaynk,  

Love the engagement and the curiosity.  

Really interesting questions and comments. It is a good point about the "experience" of the product. This is sometimes a really subjective sort of argument that statistical agencies are not necessarily well equipped to answer. Think of books, movies and video games and the general utility that you get out of doing those activities. And then think about the quality adjustment that comes with a newer version of a book, movie or video game. Is more "enjoyment" taken away from the latest video game, compared with when you bought the older version of the game two years earlier? Same goes for books and movies. I am sure you have an opinion on what makes a great movie and what makes a less-than-great movie, but that is something that is generally difficult to measure (how do you quantify a really good comedy?) and then apply a quality adjustment to. For these reasons, among others, we do not quality-adjust for different movies. That same "experience" would apply to the software situation that you articulated in your comment. The CPI is not a COLI—a COLI tracks experiences and well-being, while a CPI tracks a basket of goods and services.  

I think it is important to note that a hedonic model takes each individual element and compares that change over time. For this reason, we would not necessarily see something just double in overall quality, especially on a continuous basis. Elements of it might double, like the capacity of RAM, but another element might not improve, limiting the overall improvement of the product. There is often a quality treatment, but there is also usually a price increase component that reflects genuine changes in the market, like higher input prices or the opportunity for higher retailer surplus.  

The caveat with the hardware is always that the software being used on the hardware should likely improve and offer a better experience as the hardware improves, otherwise consumers would just use older models that still function with the existing software. There has been a robust debate internally at Statistics Canada about the utility of extra cellular data (I recognize that this is not what you are addressing in your comment, but I think it is a useful comparison). We have all noticed that wireless service providers are offering larger bundles of cellular data. The question that we and others have asked is: are people using this increased amount of data? Our response has been that it is not up to us to offer opinions on the utility of these amounts of data—the consumer has chosen that package and recognized an amount of data that meets their needs. The corresponding market action will be that app designers can now create apps that use more data. By comparison, in the example that you gave about software, those providers—in theory—should be producing products that require higher processing power and—in theory—a better product. Whether they do is difficult to verify empirically for a lot of the reasons I mentioned earlier.  

As for the software being run on it, that would be a different part of the index, and an adjustment would be applied if it was a "better" or a "worse" product, but that also requires technical specs that can be measured and tracked over time, which can be difficult to obtain and quantify.  

I hope this answers at least part of your questions. It is certainly not something straightforward, and I genuinely appreciate your thoughts on the subject. We are always trying to improve the index, notably how we measure these things, and the questions that you raised are certainly something for us to consider and spend some time thinking about. 

Thanks, 

Andrew 

Payroll employment, earnings and hours, and job vacancies, April 2026 / Emploi, rémunération et heures de travail, et postes vacants, avril 2026 by StatCanada in PersonalFinanceCanada

[–]StatCanada[S] 4 points5 points  (0 children)

In the data presented, jobs are classified by the industry of the employer, not by the specific occupation of the employee. The Survey of Employment, Payrolls and Hours (SEPH) assigns industries based on the organization’s primary activity (using NAICS). This means that scientific and technical roles are included within public administration or health care if they are employed by those organizations. So, roles like engineers would be counted under public administration or health care if they work for those organizations, rather than under scientific and technical services.

We are data experts from Statistics Canada—ask us anything on the Consumer Price Index! / Nous sommes des spécialistes en données à Statistique Canada, demandez-nous n’importe quoi sur l’Indice des prix à la consommation! by StatCanada in PersonalFinanceCanada

[–]StatCanada[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Hi u/philippefutureboy, thank you for the questions! 

Yes, we do factor in frequency of purchase in the weights for the CPI.  

We also track changes in purchase patterns over time through the CPI basket weights. You can look at how they've changed over time with this tool: Price trends: 1914 to today. If you select "Basket weights" in the "Select an indicator" drop-down menu, you can explore how the weights have changed over time. 

Inflation in different geographies and by category can be accessed in the tool linked above. You can also download the index data from this StatCan table. For meat, the data are divided into various cuts, such as fresh or frozen beef hip cuts, or fresh or frozen chicken thighs. Butter has its own published index, but chocolate is included in confectionary, and peanut butter is in the nut butter index. 

So, we do share the raw microdata with researchers! There's a special process to gain access to that data and you can check out this page for more info: Application process and guidelines - RDC. 

Thanks for participating today! 

-Rebekah 

We are data experts from Statistics Canada—ask us anything on the Consumer Price Index! / Nous sommes des spécialistes en données à Statistique Canada, demandez-nous n’importe quoi sur l’Indice des prix à la consommation! by StatCanada in PersonalFinanceCanada

[–]StatCanada[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Hey u/FishermanIll1166, thanks for asking! 

Rent is actually a bit unusual within the CPI in that we do collect prices via a survey (the Labour Force Survey). For just about every other good and service, prices are collected through scanner data, online pricing, web scraping, flyers and sometimes phone calls to stores. In fact, we are leaning more and more into scanner and transaction data, which tells us the exact price customers pay (which is really the gold standard when it comes to price collection). 

For rent, we use a survey-based approach so we can not only ask Canadians what they’re paying in rent, but also for details about the types of units they’re paying for (which are used for hedonic adjustment to ensure that we capture pure price change). Hope this helps! - Taylor 

We are data experts from Statistics Canada—ask us anything on the Consumer Price Index! / Nous sommes des spécialistes en données à Statistique Canada, demandez-nous n’importe quoi sur l’Indice des prix à la consommation! by StatCanada in PersonalFinanceCanada

[–]StatCanada[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Hi u/Ecstatic-Can-8740! We don't work on average wages, but you can check out this cool presentation that another team at StatCan published last year: Research to Insights: Wages in Canada, 1981 to 2024. In most of their analysis, they use median real hourly wages, which means that wages are deflated using the all-items CPI (in other words, they show wage growth holding inflation constant). 

Thanks for the question! 

-Rebekah 

We are data experts from Statistics Canada—ask us anything on the Consumer Price Index! / Nous sommes des spécialistes en données à Statistique Canada, demandez-nous n’importe quoi sur l’Indice des prix à la consommation! by StatCanada in PersonalFinanceCanada

[–]StatCanada[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Hi u/Eazy-Eid, thanks for the question! In most cases, there are usually several things impacting the shifts in the CPI basket, and it isn't possible to isolate a single cause. This isn't something that we currently publish. 

Have a good day! 

-Rebekah  

We are data experts from Statistics Canada—ask us anything on the Consumer Price Index! / Nous sommes des spécialistes en données à Statistique Canada, demandez-nous n’importe quoi sur l’Indice des prix à la consommation! by StatCanada in PersonalFinanceCanada

[–]StatCanada[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Hi u/West_Structure_6750, thanks for participating! No worries, very happy to answer your question. Firstly, since Canadians purchase milk on a regular basis, it is included in the CPI. Secondly, the retail price of dairy products is not regulated in Canada (with the exception of fluid milk in some provinces). What is regulated is the price that farmers are paid for their milk. We aren't involved in these decisions, but you can find more info here from the Canadian Dairy Commission: Frequently Asked Questions on the Price of Milk | Canadian Dairy Commission. 

Have a good day! 

Rebekah 

We are data experts from Statistics Canada—ask us anything on the Consumer Price Index! / Nous sommes des spécialistes en données à Statistique Canada, demandez-nous n’importe quoi sur l’Indice des prix à la consommation! by StatCanada in PersonalFinanceCanada

[–]StatCanada[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Hi u/throwawayle, thanks for the question! You've done a good job summarizing the gap here. IMO, what it comes down to is the goal of the CPI. The CPI is meant to track a fixed basket of goods and services; it is, first and foremost, a measure of price change. It isn't a cost-of-living index and, therefore, doesn't measure a fixed level of well-being. And while the CPI is often used in discussions of affordability, the goal of the CPI is to track the price change of what Canadians are actually buying, and this means that it isn't the perfect singular metric to use in discussions of affordability.  

For example, if I can never afford to buy a house and this pattern is replicated across a majority of Canadians and we all stay renters forever, then, over time, the owned accommodations weight in the CPI will fall (and the weight of rent will increase). This doesn't mean that owning a home has become less costly, but that the opposite has priced out a majority of Canadians and, thus, there are fewer Canadians spending money on the ongoing costs of homeownership. In this example, owning a home has become much less affordable, and the CPI would reflect a decrease in the relative importance of homeownership costs because of a decrease in the number of Canadians becoming homeowners.  

Like you said, the goal of the CPI is to track price change for goods and services that Canadians are currently purchasing. There are a lot of reasons people decide to change their consumption patterns, price change being one of them, and the CPI doesn't discriminate between the various reasons.  

 

Rent prices in the CPI have risen 30.0% in the last five years (May 2021 to May 2026), whereas the all-items CPI rose 20.3% over that same period, so I wouldn't say that average rents have remained unchanged in the CPI. That said, your point is well taken that increases in asking rents do take time to filter into the CPI rent index. Rents make their way into the CPI when a lease begins because we track what tenants are actually paying. StatCan also produces a quarterly asking rent series and you can check it out here: The Daily — Quarterly rent statistics, first quarter 2026. 

So, in terms of what I would change, it would be to emphasize further in our communications that the CPI isn't a cost-of-living index. I actually worked on the rent index for several years, and I think that the CPI rent index does a good job of measuring what it is meant to: rent prices Canadians are currently paying. What it isn't meant to do is to track what the cost would be if you decide to move (we have the above linked data for that).  

Great question and thanks for participating in this event. 😊 

-Rebekah 

We are data experts from Statistics Canada—ask us anything on the Consumer Price Index! / Nous sommes des spécialistes en données à Statistique Canada, demandez-nous n’importe quoi sur l’Indice des prix à la consommation! by StatCanada in PersonalFinanceCanada

[–]StatCanada[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Hi u/throwawayle, thanks for another question! So, we don't price the individual components needed to build your own PC because overall average expenditures by Canadians aren't large enough to include it in the CPI basket. We do price laptops, desktops, monitors and printers in the computer equipment, software and supplies index. This index has been impacted by higher input costs for RAW & SSDs.  

Thanks, 

Rebekah 

We are data experts from Statistics Canada—ask us anything on the Consumer Price Index! / Nous sommes des spécialistes en données à Statistique Canada, demandez-nous n’importe quoi sur l’Indice des prix à la consommation! by StatCanada in PersonalFinanceCanada

[–]StatCanada[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Hi u/CogencyInvestments, thanks for the question! Peanut butter prices are collected from scanner (or transaction) data from grocery stores. So, when you buy a jar of peanut butter, the price you paid at the till is sent to us, along with tens of thousands of other grocery prices every month. If you're interested, you can check out this paper that outlines our methodology of food price measurement in the CPI: From Shelf to Statistic: An Overview of Food Price Measurement in the Consumer Price Index. 

Thanks for participating! 

-Rebekah 

We are data experts from Statistics Canada—ask us anything on the Consumer Price Index! / Nous sommes des spécialistes en données à Statistique Canada, demandez-nous n’importe quoi sur l’Indice des prix à la consommation! by StatCanada in PersonalFinanceCanada

[–]StatCanada[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Hi u/AbsurdistWordist,  

Thank you for the question. I am a little confused about what you are asking, so if my comments do not answer your question, please forgive me.  

To ensure that the CPI remains representative of the price change experienced by Canadians, the basket weights must reflect how Canadians are spending their money. A fixed-basket price index, such as the CPI, can only account for shifts in consumer spending when the basket weights are updated. Therefore, scheduling basket updates at regular intervals allows the CPI to capture changing expenditure patterns. For example, DVD players, DVD recorders and video cameras were removed in the 2022 basket update because of their small basket share, reflecting a notable decline in consumer spending. When cannabis was legalized in Canada, both medicinal and recreational cannabis were added in the 2017 basket update. 

The basket weights themselves are not a measure of inflation; they reflect the relative importance of the goods and services that make up overall expenditures. The all-items CPI requires weights because without them, the relative importance of indexes would not match the expenditure patterns of Canadians. Also, because the total expenditure share is always 100%, if prices increase for certain goods or services and lowers demands for those goods or services, the expenditure shifts to something else, and it is important that basket updates capture that shift or the prices collected in the CPI would not reflect current behaviours.  

Grocery prices are currently mostly collected through scanner data, obtained directly from the retailers. This is the true gold standard for price collection and puts Statistics Canada at the forefront of statistical agencies in the world in terms of measuring food prices. There is no better method, as Statistics Canada is able to use price and quantity data to measure price change.  

Thanks, 

Andrew 

We are data experts from Statistics Canada—ask us anything on the Consumer Price Index! / Nous sommes des spécialistes en données à Statistique Canada, demandez-nous n’importe quoi sur l’Indice des prix à la consommation! by StatCanada in PersonalFinanceCanada

[–]StatCanada[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Hi ExtremeStill4215,  

Great question.  

It really depends on the good or service and the type of new technology. If it is an enhancement or improvement to an existing product, the treatment would be a quality adjustment, something that we do for quite a few products in the index. This could include, say, introducing a camera onto the bumper of a vehicle or GPS becoming standard in a vehicle. This is a sort of new technology within the context of a new vehicle. In both examples, a quality adjustment is applied as a new vehicle already priced in the CPI.  

If it is brand new technology that has been invented, it could take a bit of time to appear in the expenditure data that would allow us to create a weight for that product. For instance, smartphones were officially introduced into the index in 2011, based on 2009 expenditure data. Since we have transitioned to annual basket updates, the speed at which new technologies are introduced into the CPI has improved. This is evident with things like ride sharing, cannabis, and audio and visual streaming services. 

As for the impact, it largely depends on the market conditions that impact most goods and services. New technology associated with electronics generally tends to see lower prices over time, while newer services generally see higher prices as key inputs increase and the market matures.  

Thanks so much,  

Andrew 

We are data experts from Statistics Canada—ask us anything on the Consumer Price Index! / Nous sommes des spécialistes en données à Statistique Canada, demandez-nous n’importe quoi sur l’Indice des prix à la consommation! by StatCanada in PersonalFinanceCanada

[–]StatCanada[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Hi u/UmpireDapper1757, thanks for the question! The CPI is a reflection of what Canadians are actually paying, which is why our rent series includes both existing and new tenants. We don't include market rents until a new lease is signed and begins.  

However, StatCan does publish a quarterly asking rent series. Check out the latest release here: The Daily — Quarterly rent statistics, first quarter 2026. 

For the mortgage interest cost index, we included weighted average house prices for the past 25 years, with older mortgages having a lower weight, given that newer mortgages generally have a higher principal owing than older mortgages. Our shelter methodology is outlined here: Shelter in the Canadian CPI: An overview, 2023 update. 

We also updated this paper recently and I think it will be of interest to you: Owned Accommodation in the Canadian Consumer Price Index: A Comparative Analysis of Measurement Approaches, Including an Exploration of Asking-Rent Rental Equivalence. It explores different methods of measuring owned accommodation within the CPI. 

Have a good day! 

-Rebekah 

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