Consumer price growth in Ottawa sped up slightly in April, to 0.9 per cent, as the rest of the country saw the inflation rate rise for the first time in five months due to higher gasoline prices and fewer incentives on passenger vehicles.

Local inflation was 0.4 percentage points higher than in March, with Ottawa's consumer price index rising to 112.1, fuelled by continued growth in the cost of regular unleaded gasoline at self-serve stations, as well as by a substantial jump in the price of heating oil, which is part of the water, fuel and electricity component of the shelter category.

"We've seen that heating oil has gone up 34.3 per cent year over year in April, compared to 29.4 per cent in March – it's a trend we see all over Canada," said Statistics Canada analyst Bruno Morin.

Meanwhile, year-over-year growth in prices at the pump doubled to 11.8 per cent, from just 5.9 per cent year-over-year in March, with the average gasoline price in April rising to 113.8 cents from 101.8 cents a year earlier. This was compared to March 2008, when the price of gasoline rose to 107.1 cents from 101.1 cents year-over-year.

The shelter component, which is typically a key driver of consumer price growth, saw a very slight slowdown in April, despite the upward pressure from heating oil prices and growth in the owned accommodation sector. Year-over-year price growth for the category decelerated by 0.1 percentage points to 1.8 per cent.

"There was downward pressure from the water, fuel and electricity category," said Mr. Morin. "This is likely because at the Ontario level, we see that natural gas is cheaper, so those who are using fuel oil to heat their homes are paying more but those using natural gas are paying less year-over-year."

Ottawa also saw less upward pressure for its owned accommodation sector compared to other cities in the country, leading to a below-average overall inflation rate, Mr. Morin noted.

Nationally, the inflation rate increased by 0.3 percentage points to 1.7 per cent, the first acceleration of the all-items index since November 2007, with an 11.6-per-cent year-over-year increase in the price of gasoline, up 3.7 percentage points from the previous month's growth rate, was the main driver of the gain.

Excluding gasoline, the all-items index increased by 1.3 per cent during the 12-month period.

The Bank of Canada's core index, which is used to monitor the inflation control target, rose by 1.5 per cent year-over-year in April, up from the 1.3-per-cent increase seen in March.