From gas to groceries, Canadians are paying more as inflation rate hits 4.4 per cent
Whether you're filling up at the gas pump or filling up your grocery cart, it's costing you more. Statistics Canada reported the overall inflation in September reached 4.4 per cent, the highest it's been in 18 years.
Much of that price hike is due to the soaring cost of gasoline with people spending 32.8 per cent more to fill up at the pumps last month compared to September 2020.
Overall food prices climbed nearly four per cent while meat jumped 9.5 per cent.
Sylvain Charlebois, an agri-food analyst at Dalhousie University, told CTV News Calgary that the increasing costs will likely continue for several months.
"This is our new reality," he said
"Prices aren't going to be dropping at all and so we should change our expectations -- we should expect to pay more for food moving forward."
Charlebois anticipates the higher food prices will start to level out sometime around March.
"It's extreme. Everything has gone up. Not double, not triple, but almost quadruple. A lot of prices have gone up," said one Calgarian who had just finished her grocery shopping Wednesday afternoon.
Pushing up the prices are supply-chain constraints, higher demand and labour force shortages that are increasing employee costs.
Gas prices are also expected to hover higher than normal for a little while, experts say.
"We're really in the first inning of what is going to be a surge in energy prices," said Dan McTeague, the president of Canadians for Affordable Energy.
"Not just gasoline, but of course natural gas and propane and other products we desperately need."
StatsCan also released city-specific inflation rates, though the agency cautioned the numbers could fluctuate due to smaller samples.
Calgary's inflation rate for September was 4.2 per cent, down from 4.9 per cent compared to the previous month.
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
Widow looking for answers after Quebec man dies in Texas Ironman competition
The widow of a Quebec man who died competing in an Ironman competition is looking for answers.
Amid concerns over 'collateral damage' Trudeau, Freeland defend capital gains tax change
Facing pushback from physicians and businesspeople over the coming increase to the capital gains inclusion rate, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and his deputy Chrystia Freeland are standing by their plan to target Canada's highest earners.
Tom Mulcair: Park littered with trash after 'pilot project' is perfect symbol of Trudeau governance
Former NDP leader Tom Mulcair says that what's happening now in a trash-littered federal park in Quebec is a perfect metaphor for how the Trudeau government runs things.
Fewer medical students going into family medicine contributing to doctor shortage
As some family doctors are retiring and others are moving away from family medicine, there are fewer medical students to take their place.
'My stomach dropped': Winnipeg man speaks out after being criminally harassed following single online date
A Winnipeg man said a single date gone wrong led to years of criminal harassment, false arrests, stress and depression.
Bodies found by U.S. authorities searching for missing B.C. kayakers
United States authorities who have been searching for a pair of missing kayakers from British Columbia since the weekend have recovered two bodies in the nearby San Juan Islands of Washington state.
'It's discriminatory': Individuals refused entry to Ontario legislature for wearing keffiyeh
Individuals being barred from entering Ontario’s legislature while wearing a keffiyeh say the garment is part of their cultural identity— and the only ones making it political are the politicians banning it.
Competition bureau finds 'substantial' anti-competitive effects with proposed Bunge-Viterra merger
The proposed merger of agricultural giants Viterra and Bunge is raising competition concerns from the federal government.
Douglas DC-4 plane with 2 people on board crashes into river outside Fairbanks, Alaska
A Douglas C-54 Skymaster airplane crashed into the Tanana River near Fairbanks on Tuesday, Alaska State Troopers said.