Good and hard:
An average family of four can expect to spend more than $300 per week on food this year, according to Sylvain Charlebois, director of the Agri-Food Analytics Lab and a professor in food distribution and policy at Dalhousie University.The estimates for 2023 food costs are detailed in the newest issue of Canada’s Food Price Report, which Charlebois co-authored.Food prices will be even higher than they were in 2022, with a predicted five to seven percent increase this year, mostly affecting vegetables, dairy, and meat, Charlebois told The Epoch Times. An average family of four—a man and woman aged 31-50, a boy aged 14-18, and a girl aged 9-13—will spend $16,288.41 on food this year.This is an increase of up to $1065.60 from what families spent in 2022, which was a little over $15,000 on food for the year. A typical family spends 16 percent of their total expenses on food, says Charlebois.For the foreseeable future, Charlebois said not to expect prices to come down for most food items. For the last 12 months, the food inflation rate has exceeded general inflation.“It’s really a concern. There are two necessities of life: shelter and food. Those are the two things people need in order to survive. So obviously higher prices are a big concern,” says Charlebois.“This is probably the most expensive groceries have ever been,” he added. “But that’s the impact of inflation.”He said 2023 is going to be another challenging year, especially in the first part of the year.“Most of the increase will happen in the first half of 2023,” he says.
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Right now, we’re at that nasty spot where inflation is high, food and homes feel unaffordable, and the economy is slowing rapidly before our eyes. Not to mention a new strain of COVID-19 on the loose.Economists are forecasting not much growth at all this year before coming back to life in 2024, and their lookaheads are laced with foreboding.But we don’t just have to sit here and take it. Despite the churn and the fact that some of the difficult dynamics originate outside of the country, we — individuals, governments, businesses — don’t have to be passive.Here are the biggest challenges facing the Canadian economy in the coming year, and some initial thoughts on how to ride them out.Inflation: It’s still far too high, at 6.8 per cent in November, with some underlying signs of stubbornness. Economists believe it has peaked, but there’s not much sign of it waning quickly. It’s especially hard on low-income Canadians, whose savings have been drained by high prices over the past year and are now having to make tough choices. The Bank of Canada’s job is to control it, but carefully, so as not to squeeze so hard as to drive the economy into a deep recession. Expect perhaps a small increase in rates early this year, and then a pause.Wages: They’re rising, but not keeping up with inflation, so we collectively suffered a substantial pay cut last year. In 2023, there’s a chance employees could make up for lost ground by demanding pay increases, says economist Craig Alexander. The Bank of Canada has raised the alarm repeatedly about a wage-price spiral that has yet to materialize, he adds. But he says there’s a way for workers and their employers to keep up with prices while not triggering terrible inflation: one-time raises or bonuses, or — in the case of multi-year contracts — big increases only in the first year. Watch for public-sector unions to set the tone.Groceries: Ouch. Grocery prices were accelerating in November, food bank usage is up, and low-income households are hit the hardest. Even if prices level off, food will remain expensive, and that makes for a prickly political problem. The NDP has found support for parliamentary hearings into grocery chain profits, and the Competition Bureau is investigating, too. A simpler method to help consumers is to look at income supports finely targeted to low-income families, says Scotiabank economist Rebekah Young.Housing: The forecasts are all over the map for the real estate market in 2023 after steep declines in 2022. Royal LePage sees prices flattening out towards the middle of the year, and then rising a bit. But Alexander believes the correction is only half over, and that consumer bankruptcies will rise, too — albeit from a low base — as mortgage costs pile up. Young points out that governments want to make housing more affordable, especially for low-income families, but fixes are slow and often marginal. Expect housing to be a political hot potato again this year.Travel: Ask anyone stranded by Via Rail or Sunwing over the Christmas break and you’ll know the dysfunction of travelling in 2022 will persist in 2023. Bad weather, unpredictable surges in demand, companies scrambling to make up for lost pandemic revenue and scarce labour are some of the culprits, and none of those will be fixed overnight. We’ll see more parliamentary hearings urging a regulatory approach, and a push by customers for better service.Finding growth: Companies’ pre-tax profits rose 36 per cent in 2021 and then another 13 per cent in 2022. They’re set to decline a bit this year as the economy slows. The big question is whether employers will keep their workforces intact, eyeing growth down the road, or if they will lay off people over the next few months. Labour is notoriously in short supply, not just now but for the long term, economists say. It would make sense for firms to keep payrolls intact and use their profits from the past year to invest in technology, machinery and equipment, setting themselves up for the long haul.**
Taking your money so that they can give it back to you and act like they are doing you a favour:
The latest cost-of-living credit announced by Premier David Eby in November is expected to arrive Thursday.
The Ministry of Finance says 85 per cent of British Columbians will receive a full or partial B.C. Affordability Credit from the Canada Revenue Agency, which will provide as much as $164 per adult and $41 per child.
Finance Minister Katrine Conroy says British Columbians' budgets are already stretched, and the credit will help combat rising costs.
"We know it won't cover all the bills, but hopefully, this little extra from the B.C. Affordability Credit will help take a bit of the pressure off as we head into a new year," she said.
As of November 2022, B.C.'s consumer price index was up 7.2 percent compared to the same time in 2021.
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$564 in Carbon Tax per month to run a not for profit assisted living home for 12 people. High efficiency boilers already installed. LED lights installed. Can we not get a rebate? 😡 pic.twitter.com/sHD9g5TrwX
— CRToney🧢 (@ChuckToney) January 6, 2023
(Sidebar: there's always MAID.)
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