Diesel prices driving up holiday shipping costs
It's unwelcome news for Canadians as the holidays approach: there's yet another thing driving inflation this year.
The price of diesel is continuing its sharp climb after inventory issues in the summer and autumn, and that'll mean shipping and transport will cost consumers more.
"If the price of diesel is extremely high -- which we are seeing right now -- our cost of living is going to increase even more," Vijay Muralidharan with R Cube Economic Consulting said. "All of the goods and services that we need are transported through trucks, which run on diesel."
It has already started.
Canada Post just increased its domestic parcel surcharge to 37 per cent, up six points from the summer. It cites the rising rate of diesel.
"The cost of shipping generally is continuing to increase and that's a cost that is a huge burden to small business owners," Madame Premier owner Sarah Elder-Chamanara told CTV News. "I have flat (shipping rates for customers and) 99 per cent of the time I end up subsidizing the cost of shipping."
And though it won't -- for now -- in Elder-Chamanara's store, that cost increase is largely bleeding down to consumers.
DIESEL DEMAND
After years of low demand, the commodity is once again a hot ticket item. And with fewer refineries and booming European need, inventory is low and the cost of what diesel is available is heading in one direction.
All the holiday shopping won't help.
"If economic activity is extremely high, diesel demand is extremely high," Muralidharan said. "The one way it might change for the positive is if demand slows, which should eventually happen due to high interest (rates)."
The Bank of Canada's recent rate hikes will lower spending and eventually affect the high prices, but the general consensus is it'll take at least half a year for that to happen.
Muralidharan predicts Alberta could see diesel climb as high as $2.40 a litre later this winter.
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
Quebec nurse had to clean up after husband's death in Montreal hospital
On a night she should have been mourning, a nurse from Quebec's Laurentians region says she was forced to clean up her husband after he died at a hospital in Montreal.
Northern Ont. lawyer who abandoned clients in child protection cases disbarred
A North Bay, Ont., lawyer who abandoned 15 clients – many of them child protection cases – has lost his licence to practise law.
Bank of Canada officials split on when to start cutting interest rates
Members of the Bank of Canada's governing council were split on how long the central bank should wait before it starts cutting interest rates when they met earlier this month.
Maple Leafs fall to Bruins in Game 3, trail series 2-1
Brad Marchand scored twice, including the winner in the third period, and added an assist as the Boston Bruins downed the Toronto Maple Leafs 4-2 to take a 2-1 lead in their first-round playoff series Wednesday
Cuban government apologizes to Montreal-area family after delivering wrong body
Cuba's foreign affairs minister has apologized to a Montreal-area family after they were sent the wrong body following the death of a loved one.
'It was instant karma': Viral video captures failed theft attempt in Nanaimo, B.C.
Mounties in Nanaimo, B.C., say two late-night revellers are lucky their allegedly drunken antics weren't reported to police after security cameras captured the men trying to steal a heavy sign from a downtown business.
What is changing about Canada's capital gains tax and how does it impact me?
The federal government's proposed change to capital gains taxation is expected to increase taxes on investments and mainly affect wealthy Canadians and businesses. Here's what you need to know about the move.
New Indigenous loan guarantee program a 'really big deal,' Freeland says at Toronto conference
Canada's Deputy Prime Minister Chrystia Freeland was among the 1,700 delegates attending the two-day First Nations Major Projects Coalition (FNMPC) conference that concluded Tuesday in Toronto.
'Life was not fair to him': Daughter of N.B. man exonerated of murder remembers him as a kind soul
The daughter of a New Brunswick man recently exonerated from murder, is remembering her father as somebody who, despite a wrongful conviction, never became bitter or angry.