The year-over-year increase in Statistics Canada’s Consumer Price Index was a full point higher in March than in February. The agency cited “sustained price pressure in Canadian housing markets, substantial supply constraints and geopolitical conflict,” plus ever-tighter labour markets. Wages increased by just 3.4 per cent in March, so the average worker lost ground. (The Logic)

Talking point: Foods like pasta and cereal shot up in price thanks to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine—the war involves two of the world’s biggest wheat exporters. Travellers on spring breaks paid more than in pandemic-restricted 2021. But prices were up in all of the categories the agency tracks. Besides the year-over-year increase, which is the standard measure of price inflation, StatCan noted that it rose 1.4 per cent month-over-month. After adjusting for seasonal effects and other statistical noise, the figure was 0.9 per cent, “matching the largest increase on record.” All of this predates last week’s sharp interest-rate hike by the Bank of Canada, aimed at cooling demand.