1 · Overview

This dashboard brings together 343 monthly Consumer Price Index (CPI) time series for Canada, drawn from Statistics Canada tables 18-10-0004-01, 18-10-0006-01 and 18-10-0256-01. Indicators are organized by component group — broad aggregates first (such as All-items), followed by Food, Shelter, Household operations and furnishings, Clothing and footwear, Transportation, Health and personal care, Recreation/education, and Alcoholic beverages/tobacco — so you can scroll through all measures for one group before moving to the next. Weights are from the 2024 basket applied at the link month as published by Statistics Canada. The data for any of the 343 time series can be downloaded in a CSV file and any chart you can see on the page can be downloaded as a PNG file.

2 · Data source and freshness

All data are retrieved through the Statistics Canada Web Data Service (WDS). Each morning, shortly after 8:30 am Eastern time, the app automatically fetches fresh data the first time any user opens it. That fetch is then cached on the server and served to all subsequent users for the rest of the day. Statistics Canada typically releases updated monthly CPI data once per month, usually around the third or fourth week of the following month. The dashboard reflects the most recent release automatically on the morning it appears.

3 · Navigating the dashboard

A sticky navigation bar lets you jump directly to any component group. ⬆ Top and ⬇ Bottom scroll to the extremes of the page. # Indicator prompts for a number (1–343) and scrolls directly to that panel. ⊗ Ratio jumps to the Ratio Explorer at the bottom (see section 5 below). A search bar highlights matching panels with Prev/Next navigation. For example, if you search for "seasonally adjusted" you can proceed sequentially among all the available seasonally adjusted series. Two global controls in the header set a default chart mode and default time range that apply simultaneously to all 343 panels. There is a toggle switch in the top right-hand corner that lets you choose between white and black background colours.

4 · Chart transformations

Each panel offers five views of its time series:

• Level — the CPI index value as published (e.g., 2002 = 100).
• % Change — one-month percentage change at monthly rates: 100 × (x(t)/x(t−1) − 1).
• 3MAR% — three-month change annualised: 100 × ((x(t)/x(t−3))⁴ − 1). Captures short-run inflation momentum on an annualised basis for easy comparison with the year-over-year rate.
• 6MAR% — six-month change annualised: 100 × ((x(t)/x(t−6))² − 1). A medium-term trend measure widely used by central banks and analysts.
• YOY% — twelve-month change: 100 × (x(t)/x(t−12) − 1). The standard headline inflation measure.

Be careful using % change, 3MAR% and 6MAR% for CPI time series that are not seasonally adjusted. The CPI series for most product groups are either non-seasonal or not-very-seasonal, but some are quite noticeably seasonal. Statistics Canada seasonally adjusts only a very limited number of high-level CPI components.

The global "Default chart" selector applies a mode to all panels at once. Individual panels can be switched independently. Each panel has independent year-range selectors for both the chart and the data table. Before exploring the details of a particular month's CPI release, I recommend you set the default transformation to YOY% and the default range to 2019-2026.

5 · The ratio explorer

The Ratio Explorer at the bottom of the page lets you compute and chart the ratio of any two CPI series. Type the name of any indicator in the Numerator and Denominator search boxes, select the series you want, and click Calculate ratio. Up to three ratios can be displayed at once. Each ratio result has its own Level / % Change / 3MAR% / 6MAR% / YOY% controls and data table.

A caution: ratios are most easily interpreted when both series share the same index base period. Most series in this dashboard use 2002 = 100, but some newer sub-components carry a different base year such as 2024 = 100.