Cost-of-living report: gas up 27.8%, groceries up 1.7%

Statistics Canada said consumer prices rose 3.1 per cent in September from a year earlier, led by a 27.8 per cent jump in gasoline, while grocery prices rose just 1.7 per cent, the smallest annual gain since May 2024.

This is The Canada Cost-of-Living Report, a monthly look at what the latest official data says about prices for gas, food and shelter, province by province. The figures below come from the agency’s Consumer Price Index release for September, published Oct. 19, and its provincial table.

The all-items rate was up from 3.0 per cent in August. Excluding gasoline, the index rose 2.2 per cent, down from 2.4 per cent. On a month-over-month basis, before seasonal adjustment, prices rose 0.1 per cent. Statistics Canada said crude oil prices reached their highest level since May amid uncertainty about the wars in the Middle East, which pushed up gasoline and fuel oil. The winter blend of gasoline, which is cheaper, softened the increase.

Gas and energy

Energy prices rose 19.0 per cent year over year in September, up from 15.4 per cent in August. Gasoline was up 27.8 per cent, compared with 22.8 per cent a month earlier. Fuel oil and other fuels jumped 57.8 per cent, from 43.7 per cent in August, which Statistics Canada said weighed more heavily on Atlantic Canada, where fuel oil is more widely used. Transportation prices overall were up 8.4 per cent.

The Bank of Canada cited those energy prices when it raised its key rate to 2.5 per cent on Oct. 28, its first increase since July 2023, as we reported. Our own September inflation report has more on the national numbers.

Groceries

Food bought from stores rose 1.7 per cent, after 2.8 per cent in August. It was the second month in a row that grocery prices rose more slowly than the overall index. Fresh vegetables fell 2.9 per cent and sugar and confectionery fell 2.7 per cent. Fresh or frozen beef was still up 8.7 per cent, though that was slower than the 11.0 per cent rise in August.

Statistics Canada noted that price levels remain high: groceries cost 33.0 per cent more than they did in September 2020. Pressure may not be over. Loblaw Companies Ltd. said it has pushed back on hundreds of millions of dollars in supplier increases this year, according to our report based on Canadian Grocer.

Rent and housing

Shelter prices rose 1.8 per cent, up from 1.5 per cent in August, with higher fuel oil costs and homeowners’ home and mortgage insurance (up 4.9 per cent) behind the acceleration. Rent rose 2.8 per cent, the same as in August, and Statistics Canada said rents rose fastest in Atlantic Canada. Mortgage interest cost fell 0.2 per cent. Tenants planning for 2027 can see each province’s limit in our guide to rent increase limits.

Tuition, priced each September, rose 2.4 per cent in 2026 after 1.7 per cent in 2025. Prince Edward Island had the largest increase at 4.9 per cent, while Newfoundland and Labrador had the smallest at 0.6 per cent, during a tuition freeze. Ontario’s 2.1 per cent increase was its largest since 2018, as the province ended its freeze.

Province by province

Prices rose at a faster pace in five provinces in September than in August, mainly because of gasoline and fuel oil. The Atlantic provinces led the country. Excluding energy, inflation was 3.3 per cent in Nova Scotia, 2.6 per cent in both Prince Edward Island and New Brunswick, and 2.4 per cent in Newfoundland and Labrador, compared with 2.1 per cent nationally.

Ontario had the lowest provincial rate at 2.5 per cent. Alberta and British Columbia were the only provinces where prices fell from August, by 0.3 per cent and 0.2 per cent. The table shows the 12-month change from September 2025 to September 2026, from Statistics Canada’s Table 18-10-0004-01.

Whitehorse had the highest rate of any area listed, at 6.1 per cent, followed by Prince Edward Island at 5.7 per cent and Nova Scotia at 5.6 per cent. The October figures from Statistics Canada, which will show whether the winter-blend gasoline savings and slower grocery prices hold, will be the focus of the next edition of this report.

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