Canadians worn out by sky-high prices at the pumps are buying less gas and leaving their cars behind, new Statistics Canada figures suggest.
Gasoline prices shot up 8.8 per cent in May from a month earlier. But sales only rose 2.4 per cent, indicating that drivers bought less gas.
Douglas Porter, deputy chief economist at BMO Nesbitt Burns, said the statistics offer solid evidence that drivers are fed up with high gas prices.
"Note that despite the (8.8 per cent) jump in gasoline prices in the month, service station receipts rose just 2.4 per cent month over month, suggesting that drivers really did park it in the face of soaring prices," he wrote in a statement to clients.
With gas prices removed from the equation, retail spending barely budged, increasing only 0.1 per cent. A number of sectors showed a decrease in sales, including clothing and accessory outlets and general merchandise stores.
"Among the three sectors where sales did not increase, the most pronounced drop occurred in clothing and accessories stores (-0.7%)," states the StatsCan report. "The decrease in this sector stemmed from weak sales in clothing stores (-1.1%), while sales at shoe, clothing accessories and jewellery stores rose 0.9% following five consecutive monthly declines."
Sales neither increased nor decreased in food and beverage stores.
Sectors that made gains included:
- automotive, 1.1 per cent
- building and outdoor home supplies, 0.7 per cent
- new car dealers, 0.3 per cent
Meanwhile, despite more cautious spending, 1.2 per cent fewer Canadians reported receiving Employment Insurance benefits than a month earlier. Compared with May of last year, the number of Canadians getting regular benefits was down by 3.2 per cent, suggesting the number of people with jobs is steadily increasing.
With files from The Canadian Press
