NEW After hearing thousands of last words, this hospital chaplain has advice for the living
Hospital chaplain J.S. Park opens up about death, grief and hearing thousands of last words, and shares his advice for the living.
While Canadians are feeling the pain of record-high inflation, among G7 nations we are surpassed by Germany, the U.S., and the U.K., who are also experiencing astronomical rates of increase over the past year.
While much of this inflation is fuelled by pandemic shutdowns and supply chain disruptions, Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has amplified these existing pressures among advanced economies, which are seeing a price rise in nearly everything — from food and fertilizers to energy and natural gas.
The spillover effects of COVID-19 and the Russia-Ukraine war are now affecting the pockets of many households in the advanced G7 economies.
With the meeting of G7 finance ministers underway this week in Bonn, Germany, CTVNews.ca compiled data from the International Monetary Fund (IMF), Statistics Canada, and the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) to analyze and compared how Canada’s inflation stands among its G7 peers.
Can't see the graphs below? Click here
While every G7 country saw rising inflation, the U.K.’s shot up to 9 per cent in April – its highest since the early 1980s. Meanwhile, the U.S. reached its highest level in more than 40 years, at 8.3 per cent. Canada'st inflation also reached a peak at 6.8 per cent, the highest since 1991.
A recent report by the IMF shows that global economic prospects suffered a huge setback, largely exacerbated by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. The report said such events raise economic risks, and policy tradeoffs can become more challenging. Inflation is now a “clear and present danger for many countries”, according to the report.
Experts at the IMF project that due to the war-related disruptions, global inflation to remain elevated for much longer than anticipated earlier.
Among its G7 peers, Canada has the fourth highest inflation followed by Italy, France and Japan. With an estimated lowest inflation rate of 2 per cent, Japan is seeing its strongest inflation in three decades.
The central banks across all G7 nations are now rushing to tighten their monetary policy, as many drift away from their inflation targets. Just last month, the Bank of Canada raised its key interest rate target by half a percentage point to one per cent to curb inflation. It has further said there will be more rate hikes.
In a recent speech in Montreal, Bank of Canada deputy governor Toni Gravelle said that a "perfect storm" boosted inflation.
For consumers, this is a double whammy.
The economic upheaval brought by the pandemic and the war in Ukraine has impacted inflation, Gravelle said in his remarks. Regular purchases like gasoline and groceries will continue to shoot up due to the higher prices for commodities such as oil, wheat, and fertilizer.
Moreover, due to the high cost of production, businesses are passing a portion of this cost to regular households.
According to Statistics Canada, higher prices of fertilizer and natural gas have increased the cost for farmers, who have passed along some of these costs to consumers.
Almost all G7 nations are now feeling the pain of high food prices.
While the U.S has the highest food inflation among all G7 nations, the U.K.’s cost of food is also on a steep rise, along with worries around food scarcity.
Recent data from OECD shows that Canada has the second highest food inflation among its G7 peers.
Experts in Canada say that rising inflation will push more Canadians to the risk of hunger as inflation outpaces their grocery budgets.
One of the leading contributors to fuel inflation is energy prices.
With Russia supplying around 19 per cent of the world’s natural gas and 11 per cent of oil, energy prices have jumped alarmingly and this holds true for all G7 nations. Canada lags behind G7 nations, when it comes to energy prices.
European countries in G7 are taking a bigger hit.
Among the G7 economies, Germany is the most dependent on Russian fuel and the steep price hit is being felt by its industrial-heavy business sector as well as consumers. According to recent data by the OECD, gas spot prices in Europe are more than 10 times higher than they were a year ago. The cost of oil has also doubled over the same period.
To combat the rising energy prices, Germany recently slashed its fuel tax through a US$16.5 billion energy package. Other European G7 nations have taken similar steps.
With the ongoing Ukraine crisis, France also introduced new measures to help households, companies, farmers, and fishermen cope with rising energy prices. Last year, France capped gas and power price increases and offered financial handouts to low-income households. To shield companies and consumers from higher bills, Italy approved a package of US$4.9 billion. The package will cover 5.2 million families keeping their energy bills at the level seen last summer.
Ahead of the G7 meeting, in a recent speech to the Brussels Economic Forum on Tuesday, U.S. Treasury Secretary Janet L. Yellen commended European leaders for their proposal to phase out all Russian energy supplies within six months.
“No country controls the wind and the sun. Let’s make sure that this is the last time that the global economy is held hostage to the hostile actions of those who produce fossil fuels,” she said.
Hospital chaplain J.S. Park opens up about death, grief and hearing thousands of last words, and shares his advice for the living.
More money will land in the pockets of some Canadian families on Friday for the latest Canada Child Benefit installment.
An apparent Israeli drone attack on Iran saw troops fire air defences at a major air base and a nuclear site early Friday morning near the central city of Isfahan, an assault coming in retaliation for Tehran's unprecedented drone-and-missile assault on the country.
American millionaire Jonathan Lehrer, one of two men charged in the killings of a Canadian couple in Dominica, has been denied bail.
Canadian banks that refuse to identify the carbon rebate by name when doing direct deposits are forcing the government to change the law to make them do it, says Environment Minister Steven Guilbeault.
A woman who recently moved to Canada from India was searching for a job when she got caught in an online job scam and lost $15,000.
Prince Harry, the son of King Charles III and fifth in line to the British throne, has formally confirmed he is now a U.S. resident.
Colin Jost, who co-anchors Saturday Night Live's 'Weekend Update,' revealed who he thinks is one of the best hosts on the show.
Nearly half of China's major cities are suffering 'moderate to severe' levels of subsidence, putting millions at risk of flooding especially as sea levels rise.
Kevin the cat has been reunited with his family after enduring a harrowing three-day ordeal while lost at Toronto Pearson International Airport earlier this week.
Molly Knight, a grade four student in Nova Scotia, noticed her school library did not have many books on female athletes, so she started her own book drive in hopes of changing that.
Almost 7,000 bars of pure gold were stolen from Pearson International Airport exactly one year ago during an elaborate heist, but so far only a tiny fraction of that stolen loot has been found.
When Les Robertson was walking home from the gym in North Vancouver's Lower Lonsdale neighbourhood three weeks ago, he did a double take. Standing near a burrow it had dug in a vacant lot near East 1st Street and St. Georges Avenue was a yellow-bellied marmot.
A moulting seal who was relocated after drawing daily crowds of onlookers in Greater Victoria has made a surprise return, after what officials described as an 'astonishing' six-day journey.
Just steps from Parliament Hill is a barber shop that for the last 100 years has catered to everyone from prime ministers to tourists.
A high score on a Foo Fighters pinball machine has Edmonton player Dave Formenti on a high.
A compound used to treat sour gas that's been linked to fertility issues in cattle has been found throughout groundwater in the Prairies, according to a new study.
While many people choose to keep their medical appointments private, four longtime friends decided to undergo vasectomies as a group in B.C.'s Lower Mainland.