Finance committee  I'm going to ask Taylor to be ready as well. We have definitely evolved in terms of our collection of price information. We are no longer solely collecting retail prices. In fact, since the onset of the pandemic, we are collecting online prices for most of our commodities to the extent that that's captured as part of the consumer behaviour.

Finance committee  Taylor, do you have anything to add?

Finance committee  Thanks for the opportunity to clarify this. First of all, the average price table is, as Mr. Peterson mentioned, separate from the CPI, so I want to make sure that all the members and the viewers understand that. There are absolutely no changes to the way we measure or publish the food indexes as part of the CPI.

Finance committee  At this moment, that is the plan. It's basically because of the methodological differences. As things evolve and we obtain new data sources, it will be important to focus on the new data sources and not mix concepts.

Finance committee  Exactly. The objective is to make sure that the product is consistent over time, so apples to apples. There is a study that was released on the impact of various quality adjustment methods, which we can include in a follow-up package.

Finance committee  Thank you for your question. We are focused on the census metropolitan areas. Those will appear in the various housing price indexes that are produced in other programs. Within the CPI, we also report and publish statistics based on the census metropolitan area. We do attempt to ensure—for example, with food data and some other components—that the coverage includes outlying areas, such as grocery stores.

Finance committee  Yes, hedonic pricing is used in our quality adjustment process—Mr. Peterson addressed that—particularly with respect to items that change frequently. We use hedonic quality adjustment for things like electronics and computers—smart phones, for example. It's really the most robust way to ensure that we are taking into account quality changes over time to these types of commodities, and to maintain that consistent product over time.

Finance committee  That's a different question. That's not related at all to the CPI. I'm not sure if we have some information on our business conditions—

Finance committee  Mr. Chair, could I ask the member to clarify that question?

Finance committee  I don't believe so. We are measuring the transactions that are occurring. If we're talking about mortgage lending, as an example, we would be taking into account all of the new mortgages that are initiated in a given month. We do not assess or analyze whether.... We don't have any information to determine whether that's a high-risk loan or not.

Finance committee  Yes.

Finance committee  I can tell you that the taxes that are brought in would be included as they apply to specific prices of goods and services.

Finance committee  Yes, it depends on the nature of the tax, but most taxes are included with product prices. Taxes are included, so we know, for example, within each province and territory what the tax system structure is. Those get updated as needed. We will see carbon taxes, for example, as they're introduced in the CPI, so yes, those would be included.

Finance committee  Mr. Chair, I don't have the number specifically for Quebec shelter. We can certainly get that to you. I'm not sure if Ms. Mitchell has it.

Finance committee  Thank you for your question. In this case, I believe you're referring to the bidding process when a unit sells for more than the list price. This would be captured when we include our resale housing prices in the shelter component of owned accommodation. It appears in a couple of components: the mortgage interest and the real estate commission fees and land transfer tax.