This week, new government data revealed that food costs in Canada are still rising as a result of Prime Minister Trudeau’s carbon tax. On April 1, 2024, Trudeau increased the carbon price by another 23 percent.
Trudeau’s carbon tax has forced Canadians to choose between heating their homes and putting food on the table; an average family of four will spend $700 more on groceries in 2024 than last year.
Though year-over-year consumer price inflation fell to 3.8% in September, food prices rose 5.8%, owing to increases in bakery items (up 8%), fresh vegetables (7.6%), pasta products (10.8%), and chicken (6.5%).
Canadians have long been dissatisfied with food prices. Even before 2023, figures showed that approximately 7 million Canadians, including 1.8 million children, lived in households trying to put food on the table. As inflation continued to drive food costs higher in 2023, customer discontent grew.
Last month, Trudeau threatened grocery chains with extra taxes if they did not find a way to reduce food prices.
“Large grocery chains are experiencing historic profits. “Those profits should not be made at the expense of people who are struggling to feed their families,” Trudeau stated.
By focusing on grocers and “record profits,” Trudeau is echoing the rhetoric of some US politicians who claim that inflation is fuelled by “corporate greed.”
The notion that firms suddenly became greedy in the aftermath of the epidemic did not pass the economic smell test, and it was recently refuted in a Federal Reserve report. “Corporate profit margins were not abnormally high in the aftermath of the COVID-19 pandemic,” according to Jon Miltimore from Fee.Org.
Trudeau threatens more tax
However, politicians, particularly Trudeau, who less than a year ago attacked the concept of imposing a windfall tax on grocery stores to reduce food costs, have repeatedly claimed that greedy corporations are the main source of inflation.
However, Trudeau bears primary responsibility for this tremendous inflation.
Pierre Poilievre, the leader of Canada’s Conservative Party, hit the nail on the head when he stated that the Canadian government’s policies, as well as people who lead it, are responsible for inflation.
“[Justin Trudeau] prints $600 billion, grows our money supply by 32% in three years,” stated Poilievre. “That means the money is increasing eight times faster than the GDP. No wonder we’ve seen the worst inflation in four decades.”
Trudeau flooded the economy with printed money, devaluing the Canadian dollar.
Economics 101 explains that expanding the money supply faster than an economy can produce new products and services causes price inflation, which is exactly what has occurred in Canada.
Inflation is the increase in the supply of money and credit. Its main effect is rising costs,” Poilievre explains. “Therefore inflation — if we misuse the term to mean the rising prices themselves — is caused solely by printing more money.”
Trudeau’s nasty deception
Trudeau, of course, cannot say that their own policies and money printing are to blame for rising food costs. So they give speeches condemning grocery stores and food manufacturers for the inflation they generated and threatening them with new taxes.
It’s questionable whether Canadians will see through Trudeau’s nasty deception. What is evident is that Canadian merchants are not responsible for Canada’s increasing food prices. Justin Trudeau and the Bank of Canada are.
Meanwhile, Justin Trudeau and the Liberals continue to oppose the common-sense Conservative measure, C-234, which would save Canadian farmers billions of dollars in carbon taxes and bring relief to families at the grocery store.
Trudeau’s carbon price has caused Canadians to choose between heating their homes and feeding their families. However, it is evident that the carbon tax has done virtually nothing to combat climate change.
According to the Climate Change Performance Index, Canada now ranks 62 out of 67 countries, a four-place dip from last year. That is because the carbon tax is a tax strategy rather than an environmental one.
It is evident that Trudeau must reverse this ineffective tax increase on Canadians. Only common sense Conservatives would reduce prices by eliminating the tax on everything for everyone.
By Geoff Thomas
Canada’s Liberal Party Facing Political Oblivion Under Justin Trudeau
Canada’s Liberal Party Facing Political Oblivion Under Justin Trudeau
