Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Rural Canadians don't have an option to take public transportation to work or to the grocery store. We depend on owning our own transportation. Most of the people I know buy a used vehicle. I'm bringing this up because the cost of a used car has gone up significantly in the last year, or last year and a half potentially. I think a lot of people were refraining from buying new vehicles because the cost of a used car was more affordable.
In my constituency of Miramichi—Grand Lake, the median household income is a little over $34,000. Buying a used car was a method that many constituents, and I, over the years were using to keep costs down. At this point in time, the cost of a used car has gone through the roof.
Obviously there was some discussion earlier about the fact that we don't include this within our CPI, but the United States does include it in theirs. I think it's a little unfair for elected officials to continue.... Some are telling Canadians that we're doing better than the United States when it comes to inflation, but we aren't actually playing by the same rules. In particular, the case of the used car is one of the most significant examples of that.
When will the used car market be better reflected in the CPI to get a true, all-encompassing inflation rate?