It's Just An Economy

No need to worry about it:

The federal government’s bumbling ineptitude has resulted in many missed opportunities, lowered living standards and contributed to Canada’s reputational decline. A case in point is the fact that Ottawa has impeded Canada’s potential to become a world leader in liquefied natural gas (LNG) exports, which would be a boon for the economy and help reduce global greenhouse-gas emissions.

LNG is a booming business right now. It is the best hope of getting developing countries, where coal is king, to drastically reduce emissions. It’s one of the cleanest fuels around, it’s easy to transport long distances and it’s safe.

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Environment Minister Steven Guilbeault’s department said it has not yet finalized definitions to fulfill a promised ban on “inefficient” oil and gas subsidies. The work has been ongoing for seven years: “There is no simple set of words.”

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Environment Minister Steven Guilbeault’s department confirms more exemptions from renewable fuel regulations that would hike the price of gasoline and diesel. Exemptions were meant to “address affordability concerns,” said a briefing note: “The Clean Fuel Standard has been narrowed.”

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I suspect that the numbers are much worse:

The federal government ran a budget deficit of $73.7 billion for the April to November period of the current fiscal year.

The Finance Department says the result compared with a deficit of $232 billion in the same period a year earlier.

Program spending, excluding net actuarial losses, between April and November totalled $289.5 billion, down from nearly $386.4 billion a year earlier.

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The worst inflation scare in more than 30 years is adding a new uncertainty to Canadians’ financial future. 

Statistics Canada’s consumer price index rose at an annual pace of 4.8 per cent in December, the fastest since 1991.  

Households have noticed. For the first time in more than a decade, inflation is one of the top three concerns Canadians have about their retirement, according to RBC’s Financial Independence in Retirement Poll. 

Some 29 per cent of respondents said the rising cost of fixed expenses (rent, mortgage, food, etc.) is hindering their ability to save more money.

Worry seems to be more acute among younger people: 40 per cent for those aged 25 to 34 said inflation was beginning to pinch. A majority (85 per cent) of the younger age group is also the most worried about balancing saving for today with saving for the future.

According to Statistics Canada, costs have gone up in almost everything. Food prices rose 5.2 per cent from December 2020, while home and mortgage insurance costs climbed 9.3 per cent. Supply-chain disruptions also led to higher prices in durable goods such as passenger vehicles and household appliances.

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It’s not your imagination: Food is getting more expensive. Grocery prices have jumped 5.7 per cent over the past year, the sharpest increase in a decade. Bacon prices are up 19 per cent. Condiments have risen 10 per cent. And fresh fruit is up 5.6 per cent.

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Lies aren't cheap:

Subsidized newspapers face hard times without more federal concessions, a publishers’ lobbyist has written MPs. Jamie Irving of New Brunswick’s billionaire Irving family said dailies are in dire shape despite hundreds of millions in taxpayers’ grants: “News publishers are facing an existential threat.”