Grocery prices increased at 6.9 per cent annual pace.
Canada’s inflation rate jumped higher last month, to an annual pace of four per cent, mostly because of an increase in gasoline prices. Statistics Canada reported Tuesday that the inflation rate ticked higher by 0.7 percentage points, in large part because gasoline prices increased on an annual basis for the first time since January.
Pump prices increased by 4.6 per cent in August alone, and are up by 0.8 per cent compared to where they were a year ago.
Energy prices tend to have an outsized impact on the overall inflation rate, because they filter down into everything else, from production costs to transportation of goods. Karleen Jack is feeling the pinch of higher gasoline prices on two fronts — as a small business owner and as a consumer. She runs Lawn Warriors Property Maintenance, a business providing outdoor maintenance such as yard care, leaf and snow removal, in Ajax, Ont., just east of Toronto.
She normally services clients from all over the region, but the high price of gasoline right now has forced her to limit the distance she’s willing to go.
“We’ve had to be creative,” she told CBC News in an interview. “Based on the increases from last year, we had to zone down to a smaller territory.” From gas in her truck to premium fuel for her hedgers, leaf blowers, trimmers and mowers, she feels every pump increase directly. She estimates her costs rose by about 15 per cent last year, but she hasn’t been able to pass those increases on to her customers.
Source:cbc.ca/
