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Wednesday, October 23, 2002 Consumer Price IndexSeptember 2002Consumers paid 2.3% more in September than in September 2001 for the goods and services included in the Consumer Price Index (CPI) basket. This increase followed a 2.6% rise in August from August 2001. The smaller increase in September compared with August is explained by the 1.8% fall in energy prices from September 2001 to September 2002; energy prices had remained stable in August. The twelve-month change in the CPI excluding energy was 2.8% in September, similar to the increases in August (+2.9%) and July (+2.8%). 
Cigarette prices, which rose 39.7% from September 2001, once again exerted the strongest upward pressure on the All-items CPI. This rise was essentially the result of increases in provincial and federal taxes introduced in the fall of 2001 and the spring of 2002. Automotive vehicle insurance premiums jumped 15.7% and electricity prices rose 12.8% from September 2001. Electricity prices were up mostly because of sharp increases in Ontario.
Homeowners' replacement cost, the prices of restaurant meals and rent also added to the upward pressure on the All-items CPI. The marked decrease in natural gas prices (-25.8%) and the drop in mortgage interest cost (-3.3%) were the strongest moderating effects on the rise in the All-items CPI. Declines in traveller accommodation and gasoline prices also helped slow the rise in the CPI. CPI shows no monthly changeThe CPI remained unchanged from August to September, following a rise of 0.4% in August. Higher women's clothing prices, tuition fees and natural gas tariffs exerted upward pressure on the All-items CPI, but lower prices for fresh vegetables, traveller accommodation and air transportation exerted downward pressure. The women's clothing index rose 4.1%, largely because of higher prices for the new fall line items. Students had to pay 4.8% more this year in tuition fees, a slight acceleration over the increases of the last two years. This rise was nonetheless among the lowest in the past fifteen years. It should be noted, however, that tuition fees doubled over the last ten years. 
In 2002, average tuition fee increases varied from 0.2% for Quebec residents to 21.1% for British Columbia's. Only the tuition fees for Newfoundland and Labrador residents fell (-6.1%). The tuition fee index for a given province takes into account the fact that some of that province's residents attend educational institutions in other provinces. The natural gas index was up 5.2% in September as a result of price increases in Alberta. This rise is attributable to an increase in natural gas prices, as well as to the partial return to billing for ATCO Gas' Northern subscribers, which includes Edmonton, as the average consumer used up the credit allocated in March 2002. In March 2002, following the sale of a gas field, ATCO Gas paid its Northern Alberta customers part of the receipts from this sale. This amount was intended to compensate these customers for the future benefits that they would have received (in the form of lower prices) if the company had not sold the gas field. The amount received by these customers corresponds to a fixed amount ($3.325) per gigajoule consumed in 2001. The average consumer received a payment of about $500. Starting in March, the average gas bill of these clients entering into the calculation of the CPI was brought to zero or reduced until the payment amount was exhausted in September. In September, fresh vegetable prices fell 12.4%. Decreases were attributed mainly to the ongoing supply of local products. With the end of the summer tourist season, traveller accommodation prices fell on average 5.4%. The residents of every province, except Newfoundland and Labrador (+4.4%), experienced a drop in prices. The traveller accommodation index, like the one for tuition fees, takes into account the fact that the residents of a given province travel to other provinces. The cost of air transportation fell 3.9% in September 2002, after rising 2.2% in August. This drop was largely attributable to the move from high season prices to intermediate season prices on transatlantic and transpacific routes. Available on CANSIM: tables 326-0001 to 326-0004, 326-0009, 326-0010 and 326-0012. Information on methods and data quality available in the Integrated Meta Data Base: survey number 2301. Available at 7 am on Statistics Canada's Web site (http://www.statcan.gc.ca). From the home page, choose Today's news releases from The Daily, then Latest Consumer Price Index release. The September 2002 issue of the Consumer Price Index (62-001-XIB, $8/$77; 62-001-XPB, $11/$103) is now available. The October 2002 Consumer Price Index will be released on November 21. For more information on the basket update or to obtain the fact sheet on the treatment of electricity prices in Ontario, contact Client Services (1-866-230-2248; 613-951-1606; fax: 613-951-1539; infounit@statcan.gc.ca), Prices Division. 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.
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