The cost of living in Canada increased by 2.4% in the year ended in June, an uptick of 0.1 percentage points from May's level and farther out on the high side of the range the Bank of Canada likes to see in setting interest rates.
Statistics Canada said higher prices for food, shelter and transportation were the main drivers for the increase. But all categories that the agency monitors were higher.
Prices for vegetables and meat at grocery stores were each up by more than nine per cent, on an annualized basis. The energy sector was also a standout on the upside in the past year: Gasoline by 5.4% in the past year and natural gas by as much as 19.4%
More taxes keep pushing up the price of tobacco. Cigarettes now cost an average of 10.3 per cent more than they did last June.
Across the country, Ontario posted the largest increase with an inflation rate of 3%, while Quebec recorded the smallest, at 1.7%.
Since bottoming out at 0.7% in October, Canada's inflation rate has marched steadily higher in every month since.
The increase in inflation has been enough to cause the Bank of Canada to drop its warning on the dangers of low inflation from its four-times-a-year Monetary Policy Report earlier this week.
