WELLINGTON COUNTY – The holiday shopping season may be underway, but the Grinch of inflation continues to dampen holiday cheer.
New data from the non-profit Angus Reid Institute finds Canadians finding little reprieve from a stabilizing inflation situation.
Underscoring how economic conditions continue to drag, the sting of a second year of high consumer prices affecting everything from the cost of vitamins to bread and rent has majorities saying they will spend less on holiday preparations this year (55 per cent) and have cut back on discretionary spending overall in recent months (61%).
This continues a trend that emerged last year, when similar numbers said they had cut back.
For seven quarters in a row, more than two-in-five Canadians report feeling left behind as the cost of living rises.
Currently, 46% feel they aren’t keeping up financially, nearly quadruple the number who say they are getting ahead (12%).
Since the summer, a majority of Canadians have reported they find it difficult to feed their family as prices at the grocery store continue to rise faster than other elements of Statistics Canada’s Consumer Price Index.
The Bank of Canada may be relieved by the recent deceleration of inflation as it considers its next policy rate decision in early December, but Canadians appear more discouraged than not as they look ahead to 2024.
