Cost of living going up

With winter looming and Christmas around the corner, people are looking to buy some gifts for loved ones even though we are experiencing horrible price inflations for daily life such as the price of meat which has gone up by 9% at its highest.

Prices for furniture, gasoline, food, cars and more leaped higher in August compared with the same month a year earlier as the consumer price index hit a near two-decade high.

The rise was driven by the rollback in economic restrictions as well as supply-chain issues, like those for semiconductors that helped drive price growth for autos with new vehicle prices up 7.2 per cent year-over-year in August, for the fastest pace since 1994.

Furniture prices, which have been affected by supply chain delays and higher costs for lumber, rose by 8.7 per cent, while prices for household appliances rose 5.3 per cent year-over-year as Canadians continued to spend on their homes where many continue to work.

Subscriptions for online streaming services, such as Netflix and Spotify, rose 5.8 per cent year-over-year in August while the cost of internet services rose 3.8 per cent over the same period.

Overall, the consumer price index in August rose 4.1 per cent compared with a year ago. The annual pace grew from the 3.7 per cent registered in July, and marked the largest year-over-year inflation increase since March 2003.

Gasoline prices rose year-over-year by 32.5 per cent in August, driven by lower production compared with pre-pandemic levels, interruptions from Hurricane Ida and slowing demand linked to concerns around the spread of the Delta variant.

Even though the average consumer price index rose to 4.1% this year, a lot of people feel that they are worse off and even have difficulty making ends meet.

We at CanNet understand how difficult things can get and we are still badgering our government to set the rates for affordable internet whole-sale rates. Despite having no support or empty promises we are working hard to provide people in Canada with affordable internet services.