From a broad perspective, you want some price inflation because it’s a sign of a dynamic and growing economy. From our perspective as consumers, however, we’d prefer prices to stay the same or—even better—go down.

With this in mind, today’s Owl compares the prices of specific goods and services in Alberta in June 2021 to the same month two years ago before the distortions brought on by the pandemic.

The price of the total basket of goods and services Statistics Canada uses to measure inflation increased in Alberta by 4.3% between June 2019 and June 2021.

The item in the basket that went up the most over this period was natural gas, which increased by 68.3%. Gasoline posted the second highest increase at 23.8%. Both smokers and bookworms also paid more, with the price of cigarettes up by 19.5% and the price of reading material up by 16.8%.

Food prices increased by 5.3%, with butter (16.1%), eggs (14.2%) and pork (13.6%) topping the list while fresh fruit (1.6%), coffee and tea (-3.3%) and fresh vegetables (-5.4%) occupied the lowest three spots.

Hops and barley enthusiasts will be pleased to hear the price of beer purchased from stores decreased by 4.0% (keeping in mind that this is an average across all beers).

Unfortunately for the businesses offering this service, the cost of traveller accommodations was down by 24.3% in the wake of pandemic-related border closures and public health health restrictions.

Internet access—a service of particular importance during the pandemic—increased by 7.0% whereas clothing and footwear decreased by 1.0%.

Answer to the previous trivia question: An item that cost $1 in 1914 would cost $23.90 today due to inflation.

Today’s trivia question: What painting set a record when it sold at auction for US$450.3 million in 2017?