CALGARY -- New Statistics Canada inflation numbers are out and if you think you're spending more today than you were a year ago, you're right.
The Consumer Price Index is up 3.3 per cent in Alberta, just slightly lower than the rest of Canada.
The biggest single factor was the price of energy, with gas prices more than double what they were in April 2020.
Electricity is up too – by nearly 17 per cent.
The sirloin steak on your barbecue costs another dollar per kilogram while milk is up around 20 cents. It all adds up to more money for the same things.
It's not all bad though. With gasoline removed from the index, the inflation rate settles in to a more modest 1.5 per cent.
At least part of the price pop is due to the comparison. The world was adjusting to the pandemic in April 2020 and it was a month like no other.
"Inflation that month actually fell in the province by .5 per cent, so it’s a high number but only because we're coming off that sort of strange month," says Rob Roach, deputy chief economist with ATB Financial.
Overall the inflation rate is still at a reasonable level.
"It's relatively low. It's close to what it would normally be. The Bank of Canada shoots for about two per cent," Roach says.
The Consumer Price index is a standard basket of everyday goods used to measure the cost of living over time.
The Bank of Canada tries to keep inflation around the two per cent mark.
In 1990, inflation in Calgary was more than seven per cent.
