Everyone has to eat, but what many shoppers are craving more than anything nowadays, is a lower grocery bill. “I’m buying for one person. It’s ridiculous. It’s just gone way up. It shouldn’t be this high,” said Gary Henry as he unloaded groceries outside an Ottawa Farm Boy location. The annual rate of inflation in Canada remained unchanged in August compared to July at three per cent and grocery prices rose slower than overall inflation for the first time since July 2024, climbing 2.8 per cent year-over-year. Either way, many shoppers are already stretched thin and any increase to the price of food is difficult to stomach. “It’s absolutely off the charts. Families of four, I don’t know how they afford it,” added Len Shapiro. “I don’t see it decreasing anytime soon.” Energy prices, meantime, continue to fuel inflation. The cost of gasoline rose 22.8 per cent on average across Canada for the month of August compared to the year prior, while diesel prices remain at all-time highs in the nation’s capital selling for nearly $2.60/L at some gas stations. There are concerns the elevated cost of fuel will soon creep into the cost of everyday essentials. “The price of fuel drives up the price of everything else,” said truck driver Hubert Langevin. “Operating these trucks, we run at about 47 litres per 100 KMs. So, do the math. That’s $90 to $95 bucks an hour to run the truck. Everything else will go up.” That concern is real and justified according to Carleton University business professor Ian Lee. “The trucking industry in Canada delivers, moves about 90 per cent of the goods in our country,” he said. “The vast majority of products you and I see at retail, whether it’s clothing, food, is moved by trucks. So, if these prices remain elevated, there’s no question it’s going to be passed on through the supply chain.” Lee predicts price increases due to high diesel prices for goods transported by trucks will be felt by consumers within 30 days. He says Canadians also need to be aware of the increasing bond yields in the U.S. which could lead to interest rate hikes first in the States, and then in Canada. Then there’s the Canada – U.S. trade war, which Lee says consumers still haven’t felt the brunt of on most items. His message to everyday Canadians: “Hunker down. Cut out discretionary spending as much as possible. Of course, you’re not going to stop eating. We all know that. You aren’t going to stop heating your house, but if you were thinking about doing anything big ticket, maybe you should post-pone just to see how things are going to go.” Some people in Ottawa appear to be heeding that advice. Jon Flemming is the managing director at H. Ken Brown Excavating. He says business is slower this year than it has previously been. “Demand is soft. What would normally be our busiest time of year is slow and we’re not taking a lot of calls for pricing new work because everybody is a little bit nervous.” He too is feeling the impacts of high gas and diesel prices. “Every dollar that we spend on fuel is a dollar that we’re not allocating somewhere else. Not hiring, not buying new equipment and so on.” The Bank of Canada (BOC) is set to make its next interest rate decision on Oct. 28. Those behind the decision to hike, drop or hold the overnight lending rate will get new employment, inflation, and economic growth data before then, but already many economists are expecting the BOC to leave rates unchanged at 2.25 per cent.
