Inflation highest in nearly two decades

VANCOUVER -

You may have noticed prices are going up. Last month, McLaughlin on Your Side reported on rising grocery and gas prices, which are contributing to higher inflation.

Statistics Canada reports the consumer price index in September was up 4.4 per cent compared with a year ago. That's the highest level in 18 years.

Gas prices are up nearly 32.8 per cent, food is up 3.9 per cent, meat is up 9.5 per cent and passenger vehicles have risen in price by 7.2 per cent.

"This is due to the supply side constraints more than anything and those bottlenecks will probably be worked out in the early part of 2022. And a lot of this pressure will be alleviated as long as it doesn't spill over to higher wage demands," explained Moshe Lander, Concordia University economics professor.

There is also a labour shortage and experts say it is tougher to get people to work in the agricultural food sector.

"It was already difficult before the pandemic, it just got worse so we're seeing wages go up, eight to 10 per cent a year, great news for employees, but unfortunately someone has to pay for those increases," said Sylvain Charlebois, senior director of Dalhousie University’s agri-food analytics lab.

While prices have gone up on airfare too, that has not stopped many Canadians from travelling. Pent up demand is being blamed for some of the price increases on everything from hotels to rental cars. However, expect airfares to level off as more planes are added and capacity increases, along with more competition from lower cost airlines like Flair and Swoop.

With files from CTV's Vanessa Lee