Canada’s inflation rate hit an eight-year high in May thanks mostly to rising prices at the pump.
According to Statistics Canada, consumer prices were up 3.7% in the 12 months to May, the largest increase since March 2003.
The national statistics agency said the increase in May was “primarily a result of higher gasoline prices.”
The price at the pump was up 29.5% in May, Statistics Canada said, the largest increase since September 2005, following the devastation caused by Hurricane Katrina.
The gasoline index is just shy of a peak level reached in July 2008.
When gas prices are excluded from the index, consumer prices were up only 2.4% in the 12 months to May.
The West Coast, however, has remained relatively sheltered from the rise in gas prices.
B.C. saw the smallest increased in gas prices in May at 20.7%, compared with Ontario, which posted the largest increase at 35.6%.
B.C.’s consumer price index was up only 3.1% in the 12 months to May.
West Coast consumers paid more for restaurant food and home and mortgage insurance as well as gasoline, Statistics Canada said.
Joel McKay
Twitter:jmckaybiv