While the good news is that Canada’s inflation rate dropped to 1.7% in July, on a year-over-year basis compared to 1.9% in June, the bad news is that the cost of food and shelter both went up significantly.

That means there’s little relief in sight for the cost-of-living crisis facing many Canadian families.

What kept the so-called “headline” inflation rate to 1.7%, Statistics Canada reported, was the continuing effect of Prime Minister Mark Carney dropping the consumer carbon tax to 0% in March, significantly decreasing gasoline prices.

As the federal agency reported, the falling price of gasoline — by 16.1% year over year in July, following a 13.4% decline in June — “continued to reflect the removal of the consumer carbon levy.”

Excluding gasoline, the inflation rate rose 2.5% in Jul

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