The higher price of services, like travel tours, and air travel drove inflation up to 2.9 per cent last month.
Travel tours, mainly to destinations in the U.S., rose 6.9 per cent. Getting there put air travellers out another 4.5 per cent from a year ago.
After the cost of using your cell phone dropped 1.2 per cent from a year ago, having fallen 19.4 per cent in May after April's 26.6 per cent drop.
Those who rent saw their purchasing power shrink as the cost of rent went up 8.4 per cent in Ontario after April's 6.1 per cent jump. Statistics Canada's Consumer Price Index report said higher interest rates and a rising population put more pressure on the rental market.
Encouraged by April's inflation rate of 2.7 per cent, the Bank of Canada lowered interest rates by 25 basis points earlier this month to 4.75 per cent. The bank makes another announcement on July 24.
At the grocery store, prices accelerated at a slower pace. Buying groceries cost Canadians another 1.5 per cent from May of 2023, after a 1.4 per cent increase last month.
An increase in food prices is typical for this time of year, but in May, the cost of fresh vegetables rose 3.5 per cent, 2.2 per cent more for fresh fruit, and 2.4 per cent more for non-alcoholic beverages.
Amid higher demand and a tighter supply of fresh and frozen beef, the cost of meat rose 1.3 per cent.
The Consumer Price Index report comes out on July 16 with the inflation rate for June.
Canada's inflation rate in May was the third highest of the G-7 nations. The United Kingdom's CPI report showed a 4.2 per cent increase, 3.3 per cent in the U.S. France's inflation rate last month was 2.6 per cent. It was 2.4 per cent in Germany, 2.5 per cent in Japan, and 0.8 per cent in Italy.
Editor's note: An earlier version of this story erroneously stated cellular service prices had increased when they had fallen.