Food inflation rate reaches 40-year high, forcing Maritimers to modify buying habits
The price of food purchases from Canadian stores was up 9.7 per cent in April compared to last year, making it the largest increase since September 1981.
Some Nova Scotians say it's easy to see the negative impacts inflation is having on their bank account.
“I got four bags (of groceries) and it cost me $90 and I didn’t buy any meat at all,” said Halifax resident Jocelyne Doucette.
Despite the increase in food costs, there appears to be no relief from the inflation and it’s hurting the customers - especially those already struggling to make ends meet.
Doucette says she's had to adjust her spending habits and diet, like cutting out buying red meat altogether.
“I always ate red meat,” she said. “A nice big steak.”
Compared to a year ago, Statistics Canada says the cost of fresh fruit was up 10 per cent, fresh vegetables gained 8.2 per cent and meat rose 10.1 per cent. The cost of bread rose 12.2 per cent, while pasta gained 19.6 per cent and rice added 7.4 per cent.
“It means your disposable income is going to shrink because more of it is now going towards food,” said Janet Music, a Dalhousie University food industry researcher.
Music says supply issues and labour shortages are driving up the cost of food. She also points to the Russian invasion of Ukraine as a factor.
The skyrocketing price of oil and gas has directly impacted food inflation as well.
Music suggests an answer to that might be to shorten the supply chain and manufacture more food here at home.
“We do get a lot of our food from global trading partners,” said Music. “And manufacturing in Atlantic Canada has gone down significantly.”
Music says there is a role government can play in all of this, but adds there’s no short-term solution to inflation.
She says it could be quicker for the major food suppliers to step up and help ease some of the impacts by offering more food discounts inside the store and bringing forward more food coupon programs to offer more savings back to customers.
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
Quebec nurse had to clean up after husband's death in Montreal hospital
On a night she should have been mourning, a nurse from Quebec's Laurentians region says she was forced to clean up her husband after he died at a hospital in Montreal.
Cuban government apologizes to Montreal-area family after delivering wrong body
Cuba's foreign affairs minister has apologized to a Montreal-area family after they were sent the wrong body following the death of a loved one.
What is changing about Canada's capital gains tax and how does it impact me?
The federal government's proposed change to capital gains taxation is expected to increase taxes on investments and mainly affect wealthy Canadians and businesses. Here's what you need to know about the move.
'Anything to win': Trudeau says as Poilievre defends meeting protesters
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau is accusing Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre of welcoming 'the support of conspiracy theorists and extremists,' after the Conservative leader was photographed meeting with protesters, which his office has defended.
Northern Ont. lawyer who abandoned clients in child protection cases disbarred
A North Bay, Ont., lawyer who abandoned 15 clients – many of them child protection cases – has lost his licence to practise law.
Boeing's financial woes continue, while families of crash victims urge U.S. to prosecute the company
Boeing said Wednesday that it lost US$355 million on falling revenue in the first quarter, another sign of the crisis gripping the aircraft manufacturer as it faces increasing scrutiny over the safety of its planes and accusations of shoddy work from a growing number of whistleblowers.
Bank of Canada officials split on when to start cutting interest rates
Members of the Bank of Canada's governing council were split on how long the central bank should wait before it starts cutting interest rates when they met earlier this month.
Fair in Ontario, flurries in Labrador: Weather systems make for an erratic spring
"It's a bit of a complicated pattern; we've got a lot going on," said Jennifer Smith of the Meteorological Service of Canada in an interview with CTVNews.ca on Wednesday. "[As is] typical with weather, all of these things are related."
Police tangle with students in Texas and California as wave of campus protest against Gaza war grows
Police tangled with student demonstrators in Texas and California while new encampments sprouted Wednesday at Harvard and other colleges as school leaders sought ways to defuse a growing wave of pro-Palestinian protests.