With inflation at a 40-year high in Canada, how are Calgarians adapting to the cost of living?
Posted Jun 22, 2022 7:10 pm.
Last Updated Jun 23, 2022 9:24 am.
Gas, food, leisure, and almost any other basic need have risen in price, as inflation in Canada reaches a 40-year high.
Some Calgarians are getting creative and adapting their budget to these sky-high costs.
“Right now, consumers are struggling and they need as much help as possible,” said Dr. Sylvain Charlebois, professor, of food distribution and policy at Dalhousie University in Halifax.
The annual inflation rate has reached its highest rate since 1983.
It hit 7.7 per cent in May, and according to Statistics Canada the cost of living is getting more expensive, and it’s not hard not to notice.
Costs at the grocery store are definitely being felt. And gas prices are at an all-time high it all begs the question – how are people affording to live and what’s the first thing to go as we manage our budgets?
Related Article: Food inflation prices reach all time high in Canada
Here’s what Calgarians had to say:
“The first thing to go is all the fun stuff don’t buy make-up, I’m using cucumbers.”
“Trying to take more transit, definitely shopping different at the grocery store. Cutting down on red meat, and all that stuff that’s super expensive.”
“Definitely looking for the no-name products.
Can’t treat myself to restaurants and beers as much as I would like to.”
“I’m a single mom, so I’ve definitely felt it.”
But one place where it may be difficult to cut back though is food and Charlebois says there’s no way around those rising costs at the grocery store.
All sections of the grocery store are impacted by inflation right now, and we’re in this for a while.
“Food inflation is actually quite a challenge right now, it’s at 9.7 per cent,” said Charlebois.
He says Alberta’s food inflation rate is actually lower than the national average at 8.7 per cent, and Atlantic Canada and the Northwest Territories are being impacted the worst.
These higher prices came from supply chain challenges and the war in Ukraine.
And it’s a rampant rise in inflation that’s really quite concerning.
Related Article: Inflation soars to 7.7% in May, highest in nearly 4 decades: Statistics Canada
Chief Economist for the conference board of Canada, Pedro Antunes, says the only basic necessity not rising in cost is clothing and we should prepare to keep seeing costs rise through the summer.
“As the summer season ends and supply chains get worked out, we should see some of these prices decline, and that would be what we call dis-inflationary and could actually take away from inflation for some components and that’s why I think there could be some hope,” said Antunes.
Antunes says wage increases to accommodate could put us into a vicious cycle, where prices never drop back to where they were.
But it is a worker’s market across every industry and there are sure to be openings for jobs.
One woman thinks she has the answer to it all though.
“Win the lottery hahahaha.”
