Year-over-year price increases for food, shelter and fuel led to the highest monthly inflation reading since 1991, Statistics Canada reported, with shelter costs rising 6.2 per cent (the fastest pace since 1990), food 6.5 per cent and gasoline 31.7 per cent from January 2021. (The Logic)

Talking point: The economy is still coping with supply-chain problems, Statistics Canada said. In December, the consumer-price index had slipped 0.1 per cent from November, giving some hope that maybe prices were levelling off (the standard inflation figure measures changes in prices from the year before). In January, though, prices rose 0.9 per cent versus the previous month, the largest monthly increase recorded since 2017, according to the agency. With people’s most basic needs becoming more expensive, and wage increases failing to keep up, workers are likely to keep demanding more money from employers. Meanwhile, Bank of Canada deputy governor Tim Lane walked up to the very edge of saying the bank will increase key interest rates at the beginning of March, to fight inflation.