The Rising Cost of Living in Canada
The cost of living is rising steadily in Canada. The cost of living is defined as the price of keeping a certain standard of living. To calculate it, you need to know the average cost of the needed goods and services to maintain the aforementioned standard of living. The rising cost is caused by many factors, such as: the housing market, gas prices, the weak Canadian Dollar, clothing prices, public transportation costs, and the fact that wages are not increasing fast enough (The Canadian Press). Most of these aspects are inflating, and those that are not, are not decreasing anywhere fast enough to offset inflation.
The cost of living is relevant to all Canadians supporting themselves. It is especially important …show more content…
They have doubled since the start of 2016, and will continue to worsen due to refineries being behind on production (The Canadian Press). The fact that the Canadian Dollar is weak has not helped at all. Food prices add more stress to Canadians and are the biggest area of concern. It is projected that families will spend at least $420 more this year than any other year on groceries (Tencer). There are many causes behind rising food prices. A main reason is the fact that much of Canada’s food is imported, and it requires extensive amounts of fuel, so transport is costing companies more, and consequently, they need to charge more (OXFAM Canada). As well, climate change has adversely impacted crops and is projected to keep getting worse. Housing prices are another sticky situation. The price of buying or renting a home in Canada is up by 9.9% (Canadian Real Estate Association). Overall, the housing market is very unstable (Canadian Real Estate Association). While clothing prices are down just slightly, this does not come close to offsetting the other inflations. The cost of transportation is already up 2% this year (Statistics Canada). It is directly linked to the cost of gas (OXFAM Canada). We already know that gas prices will not be rectified soon, and therefore transportation costs are expected to maintain their trend of inflation. Health and personal care is up by 1.5% (Statistics Canada). This is …show more content…
However, this has consequences for other countries because it forces up the prices of exported foods as there is a shortage. This is an option for Canada. Although the government is openly against exportation restrictions, they could restrict exportations just during times of food shortages within Canada. As well, Canada could invest in smaller scale farming which is less reliant on fossil fuels (OXFAM Canada). Although against exportation restrictions, the Canadian government could restrict exportations during times of food shortages within Canada (OXFAM Canada). As well, the government could find ways to lower gas prices. The US had discussions with Canada of joining together in fossil fuel production to reduce the cost of buying fuel from other countries for themselves, but this ended because it would be an expensive endeavour to begin, but it could be revisited (Shulman). Finally, the minimum wage could be adjusted. It needs to be changed to be able to facilitate a good standard of living. Talk about this is already underway and many provinces are slowly, but steadily, increasing their minimum wage. In Québec, for example, there have been some large jumps in wage (Stefanovich). To combat rising tuition prices student debt caps can be instituted. These are already existent in a few provinces, while in other students are putting off higher education until they have saved
The cost of living is rising steadily in Canada. The cost of living is defined as the price of keeping a certain standard of living. To calculate it, you need to know the average cost of the needed goods and services to maintain the aforementioned standard of living. The rising cost is caused by many factors, such as: the housing market, gas prices, the weak Canadian Dollar, clothing prices, public transportation costs, and the fact that wages are not increasing fast enough (The Canadian Press). Most of these aspects are inflating, and those that are not, are not decreasing anywhere fast enough to offset inflation.
The cost of living is relevant to all Canadians supporting themselves. It is especially important …show more content…
They have doubled since the start of 2016, and will continue to worsen due to refineries being behind on production (The Canadian Press). The fact that the Canadian Dollar is weak has not helped at all. Food prices add more stress to Canadians and are the biggest area of concern. It is projected that families will spend at least $420 more this year than any other year on groceries (Tencer). There are many causes behind rising food prices. A main reason is the fact that much of Canada’s food is imported, and it requires extensive amounts of fuel, so transport is costing companies more, and consequently, they need to charge more (OXFAM Canada). As well, climate change has adversely impacted crops and is projected to keep getting worse. Housing prices are another sticky situation. The price of buying or renting a home in Canada is up by 9.9% (Canadian Real Estate Association). Overall, the housing market is very unstable (Canadian Real Estate Association). While clothing prices are down just slightly, this does not come close to offsetting the other inflations. The cost of transportation is already up 2% this year (Statistics Canada). It is directly linked to the cost of gas (OXFAM Canada). We already know that gas prices will not be rectified soon, and therefore transportation costs are expected to maintain their trend of inflation. Health and personal care is up by 1.5% (Statistics Canada). This is …show more content…
However, this has consequences for other countries because it forces up the prices of exported foods as there is a shortage. This is an option for Canada. Although the government is openly against exportation restrictions, they could restrict exportations just during times of food shortages within Canada. As well, Canada could invest in smaller scale farming which is less reliant on fossil fuels (OXFAM Canada). Although against exportation restrictions, the Canadian government could restrict exportations during times of food shortages within Canada (OXFAM Canada). As well, the government could find ways to lower gas prices. The US had discussions with Canada of joining together in fossil fuel production to reduce the cost of buying fuel from other countries for themselves, but this ended because it would be an expensive endeavour to begin, but it could be revisited (Shulman). Finally, the minimum wage could be adjusted. It needs to be changed to be able to facilitate a good standard of living. Talk about this is already underway and many provinces are slowly, but steadily, increasing their minimum wage. In Québec, for example, there have been some large jumps in wage (Stefanovich). To combat rising tuition prices student debt caps can be instituted. These are already existent in a few provinces, while in other students are putting off higher education until they have saved