Soaring food prices fuelled inflation in Ontario and across Canada last month
Published October 19, 2022 at 11:11 am
Ontario had the seventh highest inflation rate out of all the provinces last month, and Canadians are feeling the pinch at the grocery store as food prices soared at the fastest rate since August 1981.
The national annual inflation rate was 6.9 per cent in September according to Statistics Canada, with Ontario seeing a rate of 6.7 per cent – down from 6.9 per cent last month.
While overall inflation cooled slightly from 7.0 per cent inflation in August, food prices were up more than 11 per cent compared with a year ago.
Statistics Canada says that on a year-over-year basis, Canadians paid more for items such as meat (up 7.6 per cent), dairy products, (up 9.7 per cent), bakery products (up 14.8 per cent), and fresh vegetables (up 11.8 per cent).
Here’s what inflation rates last month looked like across the provinces, ranked highest to lowest:
- Prince Edward Island: 8.4 per cent, up from 8.3 per cent in August
- Manitoba: 8.1 per cent, up from 8.0 per cent in August
- British Columbia: 7.7 per cent, up from 7.3 per cent in August
- Nova Scotia: 7.3 per cent, down from 7.8 per cent in August
- Saskatchewan: 7.1 per cent, down from 6.8 per cent in August
- New Brunswick: 6.8 per cent, down from 7.4 per cent in August.
- Ontario: 6.7 per cent, down from 6.9 per cent in August
- Quebec: 6.5 per cent, down from 7.1 per cent in August
- Alberta: 6.2 per cent, up from 6.0 per cent in August
- Newfoundland and Labrador: 6.1 per cent, down from 6.4 per cent in August
The agency says unfavourable weather conditions contributed to food price increases.
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Higher prices for important inputs such as fertilizer and natural gas, as well as geopolitical instability stemming from Russia’s invasion of Ukraine also contributed to the increases, Statistics Canada says.
With files from The Canadian Press
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