Inflation spikes to highest level since 1983, Trudeau government says they've done enough already
China just laughs and waits
On Sunday, Scotiabank released a report saying the Trudeau government needed to cut spending to help deal with inflation.
On Monday, Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland said the government had done enough.
On Wednesday, Statistics Canada released the latest numbers showing the cost of living continues to rise and that Scotiabank was right.The monthly inflation rate for May was 7.7% up from 6.8% in April. The last time inflation was this high was January 1983. Back then, Down Under by Men at Work was the top song on the charts, Dallas was the No. 1 TV show, and Tootsie was tops at the movie box office.
And Justin Trudeau was an 11-year-old living at 24 Sussex as his father ran the country, unsure how to deal with out-of-control inflation. I’m not old enough to remember the impact of inflation in those days but I do remember my mother shopping for every deal she could find at the grocery store.
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Now seven years into another Trudeau as prime minister and we are back in that spot once again.
Gas and food run higher
While the overall inflation rate is 7.7%, food inflation is still higher. According to Statistics Canada, the overall cost of groceries is up 9.7% compared to one year ago, but the cost of specific items is even higher.
Cooking oils rose 30%, the highest on record. Fresh vegetables were up 10.3% in May after an 8.2% increase in April. Fresh and frozen fish saw price increases of 11.7%, and meat only increased by 9% compared to the 10.1% increase the month earlier.
Once again, gas is even higher with Canadians paying a national average of $2.03 per litre compared to $1.33 a year ago.
In the United States, President Joe Biden is calling for Congress to pass a gas tax holiday for at least three months. In Canada, the Trudeau government is boasting about raising the carbon tax even at a time of high inflation.
Trudeau doesn’t understand
The crazy part is that Trudeau, who left for Rwanda on Tuesday for a meeting of Commonwealth leaders, isn’t someone who would notice price increases. It isn’t just that Trudeau is PM and insulated from the cost of daily life, this is something he has never known.
Trudeau was born when his father was prime minister and lived at 24 Sussex Drive until his teen years. He was given a trust fund in his 20s, built mostly from his grandfather’s investments in oil and gas, and hasn’t faced the same realities that most Canadians have at any point in his life.
So, while he can say the right words now and again, he doesn’t really understand the impact of rising prices on family budgets.
The report from Scotiabank on Sunday called for the Trudeau government to control the growth in government spending so that the Bank of Canada didn’t have to raise interest rates so high to control inflation. The central bank has warned that using just interest rates to control inflation could see families paying between $600 and $1,000 more per month in mortgage payments in a few years.
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Yet asked about the report and if the federal government should reduce spending to help control inflation, Freeland was dismissive on Monday.
“Well, I think we’ve already done that,” Freeland said with a smirk.
The new inflation figures and this little thing called reality would dispute Freeland’s smug comments.
She has the chance to do the right thing to help Canadian families and she’s refusing to do so, mostly because she doesn’t see government spending as part of the problem. Also, because, like her boss, Trudeau, Freeland is detached from the reality of rising prices families are facing.
I fear things will get worse before they get better.01:31
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