TORONTO – Inflation at levels never seen in thirty years. And skyrocketing prices. This is what emerges from the latest Statistics Canada report, published today. In January 2022, Canadian inflation surpassed 5% for the first time since September 1991, rising 5.1% year-on-year and further up from the already substantial 4.8% surge recorded just two months ago, in December 2021. 

Excluding gasoline, the CPI (Consumer Price Index) increased 4.3% in January 2022 from the previous year – the fastest pace since the index was introduced in 1999. And on a monthly basis, CPI rose 0.9% in January, the strongest increase since January 2017, following a 0.1% decline in December 2021.

In January, prices therefore increased in all the main components on an annual basis, with those linked to the cost of maintaining houses (+ 6.2%) driving all the rest, from the prices of services (+3, 4%) to those of goods (+ 7.2%), while the salaries of Canadians have increased at a rate not even remotely comparable, stopping at + 2.4% in a year (according to the salary data of the Labor Force Survey), with the consequence that people’s purchasing power has drastically dropped.

The surge in food prices is impressive, growing at an unprecedented rate: in one year, + 6.5% in January 2022, compared to the already very high + 5.7% in December 2021. A record: it is the largest annual increase since May 2009.

To better understand how much all this weighs in the pockets of families, let’s go into the details: the prices of fresh or frozen beef (+ 13.0%), fresh or frozen chicken (+ 9.0%) and fresh or frozen fish (+ 7.9%) increased even more in January 2022 compared to December 2021. Margarine (+ 16.5%), as well as condiments, spices and vinegars (+ 12.1%), in turn increased in consistently, as well as fresh fruit (+ 8.2%) and baked goods (+ 7.4%).

The continuing disruptions in the supply chain made necessary by the pandemic have contributed to the rise in food prices – disruptions that have inevitably led to higher shipping costs.

Alcoholic beverages are also more expensive: they increased, again in January 2022 and on an annual basis, by 2.9%, after the increase of 1.6% in December 2021. Reasons: the shortage of supplies and the increase in shipping cost.

Concerns about global oil supplies in response to international political events have instead spiked fuel prices which on a monthly basis increased by 4.8% in January 2022. On an annual basis, the percentages are impressed: +33.3 % in December 2021, + 31.7% in January 2022.

Looking at the differences in inflation and price increases across Canadian provinces (in the graphic above, from Statistics Canada), prices rose at a faster pace, on an annual basis, in January 2022 than in December 2021, in five provinces: Prince Edward Island (+ 6.7% December, + 7.1% January), Ontario (+ 5.2% December, + 5.7% January), Manitoba (+4.7 December, +5 , 5% January), British Columbia (+ 3.9% December, + 4.3% January) and Saskatchewan (+ 3.5% December, + 4.2% January). 

Interesting is the case of British Columbia where prices increased at a faster pace in January 2022 (+ 4.3%) than in December 2021 (+ 3.9%), largely due to the increase in rental prices (+ 4.2%): an increase, the latter, partly attributable to the increase in demand as more people have emigrated to the region in the last year. A mockery, for those who have decided to move. You know: from bad to worse.