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
BREAKING Alice Munro, Nobel literature winner revered as short story master, dead at 92
Nobel laureate Alice Munro, the Canadian literary giant who became one of the world's most esteemed contemporary authors and one of history's most honoured short story writers, has died at age 92.
Latest updates on air quality alerts, and when the smoke may reach Ontario and Quebec
Wildfires have led Environment Canada to issue air quality advisories for parts of B.C., Alberta, Manitoba, Saskatchewan and the Northwest Territories, as forecasters warn the smoke could drift farther east.
Are these Canada's best restaurants? Annual top 100 list revealed
The annual list of Canada's top restaurants in the country was just released and here are the places that made the 2024 cut.
Attack on prison van in France kills 2 officers, inmate escapes
Armed assailants killed two French prison officers and seriously wounded three others in an attack on a convoy in Normandy on Tuesday and an inmate escaped, officials said.
Maximum payout for LifeLabs class-action drops from $150 estimate to $7.86
Canadian LifeLabs customers who filed an application for a class-action settlement began receiving their payments this week, though at a much lower amount than initially expected.
Steal a car, lose your driver's licence for 10 years under new Ontario proposal
Repeat car thieves may face lengthy licence bans under proposed changes to Ontario’s Highway Traffic Act.
$1.6B parts plant for Honda electric vehicle batteries coming to Niagara Region
A Japanese company has announced it will build an approximately $1.6-billion plant in Ontario's Niagara Region that will make a key electric vehicle battery component as part of Honda's supply chain in the province.
B.C. brings in law on name changes on day that child killer's new identity revealed
The BC NDP have tabled legislation aimed at stopping people who have committed certain heinous acts from changing their names.
Manitoba premier to visit areas impacted by wildfire
Manitoba Premier Wab Kinew will get a close-up look at the devastation from a large wildfire burning in northern Manitoba Tuesday.