Canada’s annual inflation rate ticked up to 2.4% in December compared to the same period last year, when the federal government implemented a GST break that brought some prices down, Statistics Canada said. The temporary tax cut, which began on Dec. 14, 2024, lasted for two months. It reverberated through monthly inflation data for part of 2025 but officially fell out of the year-over-year movement last month, sending price growth accelerating, according to the data agency. December’s rate was a smidge higher than the 2.2% rate seen in November. It was partly offset by a year-over-year decline in gas prices. With energy excluded, inflation rose to 3% in December. …”The main takeaway here is that after a year of some wide divergences, almost all of the main measures of inflation are now very close to [2.5%], in tune with the Bank of Canada’s view on the pace of underlying inflation,” wrote BMO’s Douglas Porter.