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
'They needed people inside Air Canada:' Police announce arrests in Pearson gold heist
Police say one former and one current employee of Air Canada are among the nine suspects that are facing charges in connection with the gold heist at Pearson International Airport last year.
House admonishes ArriveCan contractor in rare parliamentary show of power
MPs enacted an extraordinary, rarely used parliamentary power on Wednesday, summonsing an ArriveCan contractor to appear before the House of Commons where he was admonished publicly and forced to provide answers to the questions MPs said he'd previously evaded.
Leafs star Auston Matthews finishes season with 69 goals
Auston Matthews won't be joining the NHL's 70-goal club this season.
Trump lawyers say Stormy Daniels refused subpoena outside a Brooklyn bar, papers left 'at her feet'
Donald Trump's legal team says it tried serving Stormy Daniels a subpoena as she arrived for an event at a bar in Brooklyn last month, but the porn actor, who is expected to be a witness at the former president's criminal trial, refused to take it and walked away.
Why drivers in Eastern Canada could see big gas price spikes, and other Canadians won't
Drivers in Eastern Canada face a big increase in gas prices because of various factors, especially the higher cost of the summer blend, industry analysts say.
Doug Ford calls on Ontario Speaker to reverse Queen's Park keffiyeh ban
Ontario Premier Doug Ford is calling on Speaker Ted Arnott to reverse a ban on keffiyehs at Queen's Park, describing the move as “needlessly” divisive.
'A living nightmare': Winnipeg woman sentenced following campaign of harassment against man after online date
A Winnipeg woman was sentenced to house arrest after a single date with a man she met online culminated in her harassing him for years, and spurred false allegations which resulted in the innocent man being arrested three times.
Woman who pressured boyfriend to kill his ex in 2000s granted absences from prison
A woman who pressured her boyfriend into killing his teenage ex more than a decade ago will be allowed to leave prison for weeks at a time.
Customers disappointed after email listing $60K Tim Hortons prize sent in error
Several Tim Horton’s customers are feeling great disappointment after being told by the company that an email stating they won a boat worth nearly $60,000 was sent in error.