Roundup: Inflation starts to cool

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The CPI figures were released yesterday morning, and the headline number has cooled from its peak, and in July was running at an annualized rate of 7.6 percent, the decrease largely being driven by lower gasoline prices. Of course, there are still plenty of other drivers that are keeping it high, some of which are things like food (largely being driven by factors like climate change), hotel stays, and airline charges. But rather than exploring what these drivers are, most of the coverage of the day was focused on the usual wailing and gnashing of teeth that prices are high and demands for the government to do something about it, which, short of wage and price controls—which don’t really work—they can’t do much about. And no, “just give everyone money” is not a solution because that drives demand further. Same as tax cuts or breaks, and in fact, increasing taxes is generally a good way to dampen inflation. Regardless, there is a real incurious narrative to this in the media, which is not surprising, unfortunately.

Meanwhile, here is Kevin Carmichael’s hot take on the figures, while Bank of Canada governor Tiff Macklem took to the pages of the National Post to offer some reassurance that the Bank is on the case. Economist Stephen Gordon explains the data here on video. Heather Scoffield warns that even if inflation peaked there are too many factors keeping it high for some time to come. And here is a look at the StatsCan analysts who compile the inflation data.

Ukraine Dispatch, Day 175:

There was another explosion at an ammunition depot at a military base in Russian-occupied Crimea, and the Ukrainian government will neither confirm nor deny involvement, though they are mockingly calling it “demilitarization,” as a play on Putin’s justification for invading Ukraine.

Good reads:

  • While Canada plans to sign a hydrogen agreement with Germany, here is a look at the difference between “blue” and “green” hydrogen, and why that matters.
  • An internal CBSA report says that one quarter of front-line officers have witnessed a colleague discriminate against travellers. (And they still have no oversight!)
  • MPs and senators in the Canada-Taiwan Friendship Group are planning a trip to Taiwan as early as October.
  • The Nova Scotia RCMP members who alleged political interference appeared before committee yesterday to repeat their claims (even though they don’t make sense).
  • Indigenous groups in Newfoundland and Labrador are calling on the government to rename the Colonial Building in St. John’s, after they decided against it.
  • Former Supreme Court of Canada Justice Thomas Cromwell has criticized some of the legal advice given to RCMP in the Nova Scotia mass shooting public inquiry.
  • Quebec is planning a massive COVID vaccination programme ahead of the fall.
  • Ontario’s spending on temp agency nurses has exploded and is draining hospital budgets (and yet they are maintaining their salary cap on unionised staff nurses).
  • The chief coroner in BC says that 10,000 people have died due to illicit drugs since the public health emergency was issued in 2016.
  • My column on Trudeau’s latest vice-regal appointment without a process, and why this is sending worrying signs about how he treats these positions.

Odds and ends:

My Loonie Politics Quick Take weighs in on the use of “sovereignty” threats as part of the UCP leadership race in Alberta.

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