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The Daily. Thursday, March 21, 2002 Consumer Price IndexFebruary 2002Consumers paid 1.5% more in February for the goods and services in the Consumer Price Index (CPI) basket than they did in February 2001. This 12-month rise in the index (1992=100) is comparable with January's (+1.3%). February's index (116.9) was still below the peak of 117.5 reached in June 2001. This indicates that consumer prices were, overall, lower in February than in June 2001. The All-items excluding energy index rose 2.3% in February compared with February 2001. 
Rising prices for food, tobacco products and electricity were among the factors that contributed to the All-items index's 12-month increase in February. Food prices rose 4.3%, driven mainly by the price of restaurant meals, fresh vegetables and fresh fruit. The 24.6% increase in cigarette prices was primarily due to tax hikes. February's electricity index increased 16.2% from February 2001. Two-thirds of this rise can be explained by a $200 credit given by the Government of British Columbia in February 2001 that reduced the average electricity bill for that month to zero. 
Lower gasoline (-15.4%) and fuel oil prices (-23.4%) had an important braking effect on the February index. These declines are explained in large part by the price of oil, which was down about $12 per barrel from February 2001. Lower traveller accommodation prices, due largely to the economic slowdown, also helped curb the CPI increase. Monthly rise stronger than January'sThe CPI rose 0.6% in February from January, after advancing 0.3% in January. February's gain was due primarily to higher prices for women's clothing, travel tours, traveller accommodation, gasoline and fresh vegetables. Lower fresh fruit prices and mortgage interest costs mitigated these increases. The index for women's clothing rose 4.6% in February as many items returned to regular price after specials in January. The price increases in this sector were especially strong in Quebec, Ontario and Alberta. The price of travel tours jumped 10.9% in February from January. This monthly increase is of the same order of magnitude as those seen in February each year since 1998. The price of traveller accommodation rose 5.3%. Quebec registered the strongest rise (+10.6%), as the Québec Winter Carnival was in full swing. Consumers paid 1.4% more for gasoline in February than in January, compared with January's 2.5% rise. Price increases ranged from 0.1% in Prince Edward Island to 4.5% in Alberta. Prices fell in Saskatchewan (-3.4%), New Brunswick (-1.2%) and Whitehorse (-2.2%). The price of fresh vegetables continued to rise in February (+4.1%). Bad weather in the United States and in Mexico partly explains these increases. Broccoli, for example, was almost double its normal price for this time of the year. Lower tomato prices (-8.5%), partly the result of more favourable temperatures in Florida, slowed the increase in the fresh vegetable index. Fresh fruit prices decreased 4.3% in February. Greater availability and diversified supply sources helped push down certain prices. 
The index for mortgage interest cost decreased 0.5%. Although prices for new houses rose in most cities, the effect of dropping interest rates more than offset these price increases. Note that only a portion of mortgages, new and renewed mortgages, are affected by the interest rates reported in the latest month. The rest of the mortgages used in the index's calculation are affected by prior months' interest rates. Available on CANSIM: tables 326-0001, 326-0003, 326-0004, and 326-0010. Available at 7 am on Statistics Canada's Web site (). The February 2002 issue of The Consumer Price Index (62-001-XIB, $8/$77; 62-001-XPB, $11/$103) is now available. March's Consumer Price Index will be released on April 23. For more information, or to enquire about the concepts, methods or data quality of this release, call Louise Chaîné (1-866-230-2248; 613-951-9606; fax: 613-951-1539) or Joanne Moreau (613-951-7130), Prices Division. Consumer Price Index and its major components (1992=100)
Consumer Price Index by province, Whitehorse and Yellowknife (1992=100)
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