Stamp prices rise for the third time in five years amid financial woes for Canada Post
Canada Post is increasing stamp prices for the third time since 2019, a move the Crown corporation says is a "reality" of its sales-based revenue structure.
A new poll has found that nearly 60 per cent of Canadians are having a hard time providing enough food for their families.
The poll from the Angus Reid Institute, released on Friday, shows that 57 per cent of Canadians reported having a difficult time feeding their family recently, an increase from 36 per cent when the question was last asked in 2019.
Inflation plays a role in this figure, the report indicates, as Canadians are dealing with the highest level of inflation in 30 years.
Data released on Wednesday from Statistics Canada found that items such as cooking oil (41.4 per cent) and white sugar (21.6 per cent) have already seen significant price spikes between December 2020 and December 2021.
The Angus Reid Institute also calculated the “Economic Stress Index (ESI),” which combines concern over debt, housing costs, household food costs, a participant’s financial situation compared to the past year and expectant financial situation next year and divides respondents into four categories: thriving, comfortable, uncomfortable and struggling.
Using the ESI, the Angus Reid Institute found that a whopping 98 per cent of those struggling find it difficult to feed their families.
“For those who are Thriving, food costs are manageable, or an afterthought,” the poll states. “For those who are Uncomfortable or Struggling, putting food on the table can be a substantial challenge.”
Those in the struggling category are not very optimistic about their future wealth either, as just 8 per cent indicated that they expect to be in better financial standing this time next year.
Overall, 27 per cent of respondents fell into the struggling category, compared to 24 per cent in each of the thriving and comfortable categories, and 25 per cent in the uncomfortable category.
“In Newfoundland and Labrador, where nearly half (45%) are classified as struggling, many are without jobs,” the poll notes. “The province’s unemployment rate was nearly double the national average in December, and oil production fell last year despite a rebound in energy prices.”
On the other side, Quebec had the highest proportion of residents considered as thriving (33 per cent) and the fewest considered struggling (19 per cent).
The poll also found that 39 per cent of Canadians believe their financial standing worsened in the past year, which marks the highest number of Canadians reporting a worse-off financial situation in the 13 years of tracking from the Angus Reid Institute.
Overall, people in Alberta (49 per cent), Saskatchewan (47 per cent) and Newfoundland and Labrador (47 per cent) were most likely to report a worsening financial situation in the last year.
Canada Post is increasing stamp prices for the third time since 2019, a move the Crown corporation says is a "reality" of its sales-based revenue structure.
Defence lawyers of Jeremy Skibicki have admitted in court the accused killed four Indigenous women in Winnipeg, but argues he is not criminally responsible for the deaths by way of mental disorder – this latest development has triggered a judge-alone trial rather than a jury trial.
Democratic Institutions Minister Dominic LeBlanc will be tabling legislation on Monday aimed at countering foreign interference in Canada. Federal officials have scheduled a technical briefing on the incoming bill for Monday afternoon.
H5N1 or avian flu is decimating wildlife around the world and is now spreading among cattle in the United States, sparking concerns about 'pandemic potential' for humans. Now a health expert is urging Canada to scale up surveillance north of the border.
Polish prosecutors have discontinued an investigation into human skeletons found at a site where German dictator Adolf Hitler and other Nazi leaders spent time during the Second World War because the advanced state of decay made it impossible to determine the cause of death, a spokesman said Monday.
Italy's mafia rarely dirties its hands with blood these days. Extortion rackets have gone out of fashion and murders are largely frowned upon by the godfathers.
An Ontario MPP was asked again to leave the Ontario legislature on Monday for wearing a keffiyeh, a garment that was banned by the Speaker last month due to its political symbolism.
After his adopted parents died, Dave Rogers set out to learn more about his birth mother. DNA results and a little help from friendly strangers would put him on a path to a small town in England.
The judge presiding over Donald Trump's hush money trial fined him US$1,000 on Monday for violating his gag order once again and sternly warned the former president that additional violations could result in jail time.
Eighty-two-year-old Susan Neufeldt and 90-year-old Ulrich Richter are no spring chickens, but their love blossomed over the weekend with their wedding at Pine View Manor just outside of Rosthern.
Alberta Ballet's double-bill production of 'Der Wolf' and 'The Rite of Spring' marks not only its final show of the season, but the last production for twin sisters Alexandra and Jennifer Gibson.
A mother goose and her goslings caused a bit of a traffic jam on a busy stretch of the Trans-Canada Highway near Vancouver Saturday.
A British Columbia mayor has been censured by city council – stripping him of his travel and lobbying budgets and removing him from city committees – for allegedly distributing a book that questions the history of Indigenous residential schools in Canada.
Three men in Quebec from the same family have fathered more than 600 children.
A group of SaskPower workers recently received special recognition at the legislature – for their efforts in repairing one of Saskatchewan's largest power plants after it was knocked offline for months following a serious flood last summer.
A police officer on Montreal's South Shore anonymously donated a kidney that wound up drastically changing the life of a schoolteacher living on dialysis.
Since 1932, Montreal's Henri Henri has been filled to the brim with every possible kind of hat, from newsboy caps to feathered fedoras.
Police in Oak Bay, B.C., had to close a stretch of road Sunday to help an elephant seal named Emerson get safely back into the water.