A glitch in a computer formula meant the agency was wrong about the price of hotel and motel rooms during the period: Statistics Canada had reported that room rates fell by 16 per cent when they really rose by 32 per cent. The error in that CPI component threw off the whole index.
The consumer price index is one of the most closely watched monthly economic indicators because the Bank of Canada uses it to help set interest rates.
The CPI figure is vital to Canadians. It is used to calculate wage increases, alimony payments and interest rates.
Statistics Canada said it didn't notice the mistake until now because anecdotal evidence suggested Canada's tourism industry was facing tough times.
rest of story at:
http://www.cbc.ca/story/business/national/2006/08/16/statcan.html
[Proofreader's note: this article was edited for spelling and typos on August 17, 2006]
Note: http://www.cbc.ca/story...
Statscan Manipulating CPI?
Posted on Wednesday, August 16 at 10:11 by PatmContributed By
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What a surprise? Another Government agency that uses taxpayer funding to shove BS propaganda down Canadians' throats. All those economic stats and numbers are reported for Big Media to jerk off at.
What used to be a federal responsibility and cost, was downloaded to the province, who then downloaded responsibilities and costs to the municipalities.
Who in turn downloaded responsibilities and costs to private developers. Who in turn took the responsibilities and charged the ultimate users.
In the mean time, federal and provincial taxes (that used to pay for various things) were not reduced when this downloading took place. So the consumer paid much more.
Since then, I have been very skeptic of these calculations.
The CPI is garbage. Why do you think it is that you never see politicians' salaries "indexed for inflation"? Politicians know better than to accept that 2% wage increase when true inflation is near if not over double digits.
Rico.
If you read the economist magazine you would know that Statscan is a very highly regarded statistical agency. They sure screwed up this time but I don’t believe there is a conspiracy. They produce the number; they don’t say that your employer should use it as a salary escalator.
They did what they could, they admitted an error, fixed it and made information available about how the numbers were affected.
The size and length of time is cause for concern but it is far from junk.