OTTAWA (LifeSiteNews) – Middle-class Canadians, which is largely made up of young and older families with children, are being hit the hardest by the rapid spread of inflation, with no end in sight to rising costs.
The situation is so dire even government statistics cannot hide the fact that costs are out of control.
According to Statistics Canada data posted Wednesday, low- and middle-income households have “seen large reductions in their net savings while younger households have become more leveraged.”
Data from a report titled Research To Insights: Consumer Price Inflation, Recent Trends And Analysis, showed inflation is so bad in Canada that most workers have seen their “purchasing power decline” rapidly.
“Wages and earnings have not kept pace with price pressures, especially those related to food and shelter,” the report noted.
“Most workers have seen their purchasing power decline as inflationary pressures ramp up.”
While peoples’ earnings rose about 4.2 percent from last year, costs for basic goods shot up by large percentages.
For example, the cost of owning a car shot up 13.4 percent, and food prices overall have gone up a staggering 14.8 percent. More troubling, mortgage costs have risen 18 percent, thanks to interest rates skyrocketing.
While inflation has hit on a global scale, in Canada, the Liberal government under Prime Minister Justin Trudeau doled out copious amounts of borrowed money to fund its COVID programs and ideologically driven programs, which have increased Canada’s debt to over $1 trillion.
LifeSiteNews reported last month that the Bank of Canada admitted Trudeau’s federal “climate change” programs, which have been deemed “extreme” by some provincial leaders, are indeed helping to fuel inflation.
In fact, the nation’s debt level has nearly doubled to approximately $1.2 trillion in the span of less than two years from around $685 billion in 2019, in part due to Trudeau’s spending on his green energy agenda.
People are struggling to buy food, and many have resorted to borrowing money to pay for basic needs.
The report noted that “High inflation, especially for food products, has put a severe strain on living costs, especially among more vulnerable households as income and saving levels adjust to the withdrawal in pandemic-related supports.”
The report also added that young adults were among those “most concerned over finances with almost half of people age 35 to 44 saying they found it difficult to meet their financial needs in the previous 12 months.”
Recent data from the federal Financial Consumer Agency showed that an alarming 38 percent of Canadians are now borrowing money to help pay for monthly expenses.
A total of 40 percent of Canadians now say they are living paycheque to paycheque.
High inflation has led to rising interest rates, which will cause even more financial hurt to millions of Canadians, notably homeowners with mortgages.
Under Trudeau, taxes have gone up as well, further burdening the average consumer.
Increasing for 2023 will be Trudeau’s much-panned carbon tax. Starting in April, this tax will go up to 14 cents per liter of fuel.
It is estimated that the carbon tax increase will cost the average household between $402 and $847 in 2023, even after government rebates.