Consumer Price Index

Canadian retail sales rose 1.2% in August 2026 to $74.6 billion, with gains across all nine major subsectors. Retail Insider's October Canadian Retail Monitor examines category performance, regional differences, wholesale activity, e-commerce growth and persistent affordability pressures heading into the holiday season.

Despite the year-over-year slowdown in prices for groceries, prices have increased 33.0% since September 2020.

Although prices for groceries decelerated this month, prices have increased 29.0% since August 2021.

July was the 18th consecutive month that grocery price inflation outpaced the all-items CPI.

Prices for food purchased from stores grew at a slower pace on a year-over-year basis in June (+3.9%) compared with May (+4.3%).

Excluding gasoline, the CPI still rose at a faster pace year over year in May (+2.2%) compared with April (+2.0%)

Prices for food purchased from stores rose 4.4% on a yearly basis in March, after increasing 4.1% in February.

Charlebois indicates Canada has recorded higher food inflation than other G7 countries in recent months.

Although growth in grocery prices slowed in February, they have risen 30.1% since February 2021.

But prices for food purchased from stores rose 4.8% year over year in January following a 5.0% increase in December.

Year over year, higher restaurant prices were the largest contributor to faster growth in the all-items CPI in December 2025.

The Consumer Price Index (CPI) rose 1.9% on a year-over-year basis in August, up from a 1.7% increase in July, according to a Statistics Canada report.

Prices for gasoline led the slowdown in the all-items CPI, falling 16.1% year over year in July, following a 13.4% decline in June, said Statistics Canada.