Consumer Price Index, July 2019
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Released: 2019-08-21
July 2019
2.0% 
(12-month change)
The Consumer Price Index (CPI) rose 2.0% on a year-over-year basis in July, matching the increase in June. Prices increased year over year in all eight major components.
On a seasonally adjusted monthly basis, the CPI increased 0.4% in July, following a 0.1% decline in June.
Chart 1
The 12-month change in the Consumer Price Index
Year-over-year growth in the services index slowed in July (+2.4%) compared with June (+2.8%). This slowdown was offset by an increase in the goods index (+1.3%), as the year-over-year decline in gasoline prices slowed and price growth increased for durable goods and food.
Chart 2
Higher prices for goods year over year offset lower prices for services in July
Visit the new Consumer Price Index Portal!
Statistics Canada has launched a new Consumer Price Index (CPI) Portal as part of a suite of portals for prices and price indexes. The CPI Portal centralizes all CPI information and products in one convenient location on the Statistics Canada website. This webpage serves as a single point of access for users to find CPI data, publications, interactive tools, and announcements highlighting new products and upcoming changes to the CPI.
The portal also features an interactive data visualization tool that provides access to current and historical CPI data in a dynamic and customizable format. Check out the latest CPI snapshot to find out what's currently driving price changes in the CPI. Explore key CPI indicators and compare price changes of all the goods and services in the CPI basket over time and by geography.
The CPI Portal has been created in response to growing demand for information about the CPI and as a way to communicate upcoming changes to the program.
The portal will be updated regularly, and expanded to include additional features. Feedback from users will be used to guide future development of the CPI Portal. Your input can be provided in the form at the bottom of the portal webpage.
Visit the new Consumer Price Index (CPI) Portal today!
Highlights
Consumers pay less for telephone services, but more for devices in July
Consumers paid 2.5% less for telephone services in July compared with June. The decline follows an industry-wide shift in the pricing structure of cellular data plans amid intensifying competition among wireless providers. The widespread introduction of unlimited data plans coincided with a reduction in the subsidies for wireless devices, shifting more of the cost of devices to consumers. Consequently, the multipurpose digital devices index, which includes prices for tablets and smartphones, rose 42.5% month over month. Telephone services account for 2.29% of the 2017 CPI basket of goods and services, while multipurpose digital devices account for 0.24%.
Infographic 1
Telephone services index and multipurpose digital devices index
Prices for air transportation and travel tours rise less year over year in July
On a year-over-year basis, prices for air transportation (+4.6%) and travel tours (+7.5%) rose to a lesser extent in July than in June. This follows a decline in jet fuel prices, as reported in the Industrial Product Price Index for the June reference month.
Gasoline prices rise month over month, but remain below July 2018 levels
Gasoline prices declined 6.9% year over year in July after falling 9.2% in June, as tighter supply in the United States following a refinery closure led to month-over-month increases in the central and eastern regions of Canada.
Chart 3
Gasoline index
Regional highlights
Among the provinces, year-over-year price growth slowed the most in Manitoba (+2.2%) and British Columbia (+2.1%). In Manitoba, this slowdown was largely attributable to a decline in the province's Retail Sales Tax (RST), which decreased from 8% to 7% on July 1.
Chart 4
Consumer prices rise at a slower rate in four provinces
On a year-over-year basis, consumers in British Columbia paid less for traveller accommodation in July (-8.1%) than in June (+5.1%), when a significant increase in prices coincided with various events in the Vancouver area.
In Alberta, prices for natural gas fell 15.1% compared with July 2018, amid a sustained supply glut in the commodity market. The homeowners' replacement cost index, which is driven by the price of new homes, fell 2.6% year over year, the largest decline since January 2010.
Chart 5
Natural gas prices continue to decline year over year in Alberta
Note to readers
Telephone services index and multipurpose digital devices index
Users are reminded that the methodology for the telephone services index and the multipurpose digital devices index was updated in November 2018 as part of the regular review of the Consumer Price Index methodology. Interpretation of the 12-month price change indicator should be made with caution, particularly in the year following the implementation of the new methodology.
Real-time data tables
Real-time data table 18-10-0259-01 will be updated on September 3.
Next release
The Consumer Price Index for August will be released on September 18.
Products
The interactive Consumer Price Index Data Visualization Tool is available on the Statistics Canada website.
More information about the concepts and use of the Consumer Price Index (CPI) is available in The Canadian Consumer Price Index Reference Paper (62-553-X).
For information on the history of the CPI in Canada, consult the publication Exploring the First Century of Canada's Consumer Price Index (62-604-X).
Two videos, "An Overview of Canada's Consumer Price Index (CPI)" and "The Consumer Price Index and Your Experience of Price Change," are available on Statistics Canada's YouTube channel.
Contact information
For more information, or to enquire about the concepts, methods or data quality of this release, contact us (toll-free 1-800-263-1136; 514-283-8300; STATCAN.infostats-infostats.STATCAN@canada.ca) or Media Relations (613-951-4636; STATCAN.mediahotline-ligneinfomedias.STATCAN@canada.ca).
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