cost of living – mackaycartoons

Thursday December 13, 2018

December 13, 2018 by Graeme MacKay

Editorial Cartoon by Graeme MacKay, The Hamilton Spectator – Thursday December 13, 2018

Food price report predicts average family to pay $400 more for groceries next year

The average Canadian family will pay about $400 more for groceries and roughly $150 more for dining out next year, an annual food price report predicts.

December 8, 2016

Food prices will rise between 1.5 to 3.5 per cent in 2019, according to the report from researchers at the University of Guelph and Dalhousie University. That means the average family of four will spend $12,157 next year — up $411 from 2018.

Vegetables will see the biggest price jumps — between four and six per cent for the category, according to the report.

Meanwhile, meat and seafood prices are expected to fall, with the meat category to decline by one to three per cent and seafood costs to remain the same or fall up to two per cent.

Since 2015, the team has predicted prices in those two categories would rise as high as six per cent each year.

“This is a bit of a risk for us … We’ve never done that,” said Sylvain Charlebois, one of the lead researchers and a professor at Dalhousie University, referring to anticipating a decline.

But the team is confident in its prediction.

April 25, 2014

They believe there’s an oversupply of meat, he said, and Canadians are eating less animal protein. Instead, they’re showing more interest in alternative proteins, like quinoa and lentils.

The plant-based protein trend is evident in recent manufacturer and restaurant moves as well.

Meat processors Maple Leaf Foods Inc., for example, acquired two companies in this niche in recent years, Lightlife Foods and Field Roast GrainMeat Co.

At the same time, fast food chains have started adding vegan and vegetarian options to their menus. A&W Food Services of Canada Inc. even temporarily sold out of its Beyond Meat patties shortly after adding them to its menu.

Industry watchers have attributed the demand for plant-based protein to millennials, health-conscious baby boomers and concerns around antibiotic use in agriculture.

December 23, 2004

A turning point for animal protein, though, was 2014 when beef prices started to rise dramatically, said Charlebois.

Between December 2013 and December 2014 the monthly average retail price for one kilogram of ground beef rose more than 26 per cent, according to Statistics Canada data. For comparison, the price advanced about 3.5 per cent from December 2012-13. It reached a record high of $13.23 in October 2015.

“It really spooked consumers,” said Charlebois, adding they started substituting plant-based protein into their diet.

Butchers and grocers will likely take it easy on beef prices next year in an effort to bring people back to the red meat, he said. (Source: Hamilton Spectator)

Thursday December 8, 2016

December 7, 2016 by Graeme MacKay

Editorial Cartoon by Graeme MacKay, The Hamilton Spectator – Thursday December 8, 2016

Families could pay up to $420 more for food in 2017, report finds

The average Canadian family may need to dish out as much as $420 more for food next year — and consumers could have president-elect Donald Trump to thank for part of the price bump, the lead author of a new report says.

December 11, 2015

Canada’s Food Price Report, published by researchers at Dalhousie University in Halifax, was released Monday evening.

The annual report, which looks ahead to 2017, cites weather disruptions caused by La Nina, energy-related costs — including the potential effect of carbon pricing on the agricultural sector — and a weak Canadian dollar as factors in the expected price hikes.

Economists forecast the loonie could fall as low as 70 cents US in 2017, and a weaker dollar would reduce the buying power of importers.

“Everything we actually import from everywhere will increase in price,” says Sylvain Charlebois, lead author of the report.

But Charlebois, who works with the faculties of management and agriculture at Dalhousie, suggests there’s one more major factor that could contribute to the increase in food prices: the incoming U.S. President.

“We are expecting Canadian shoppers to be Trumped at the grocery store,” said Sylvain Charlebois, lead author of the report.

April 6, 2016

The annual report, which has come from the University of Guelph in years past, says the “proverbial sweet spot for food inflation” is between one and two per cent each year. At that rate, the increases are manageable for restaurateurs, grocery stores and consumers, the authors say.

The latest report looks forward to 2017 and finds that food prices could increase between three per cent and five per cent — with meat, vegetables, fish and other seafood projected to jump by as much as four to six per cent. Regionally, Ontario and British Columbia are expected to see most of the increases. (Source: CBC)

Wednesday August 17, 2016

August 16, 2016 by Graeme MacKay

Editorial Cartoon by Graeme MacKay, The Hamilton Spectator – Wednesday August 17, 2016

Energy minister, Wynne defend decision to put carbon tax in delivery line on bills

Premier Kathleen Wynne is defending the decision to bury the cost of Ontario’s cap-and-trade plan in the “delivery” line on natural gas bills.

The Ontario Energy Board announced last week that costs related to the Liberals’ climate change plan would not appear in a separate line item on consumers’ bills for natural gas, which is used to heat most homes in the province.

Wynne said Thursday that the government doesn’t interfere with decisions made by an arms-length agency like the energy board, which she pointed out consulted the industry and public before issuing its directive on carbon pricing.

April 19, 2016

“My understanding is they talked with local distribution companies, they talked to consumer groups across the province, and as you know, they are an independent body,” she said. “They made a decision to configure the bills that way and we don’t direct the OEB.”

Quebec and British Columbia include the cost of carbon pricing as a separate line item on bills.

But like Wynne, Energy Minister Glen Thibeault insisted it was the energy board’s decision to put the cost of cap and trade in the delivery charge instead of its own line on bills.

Thibeault insisted nothing was being hidden, and said the government was being transparent about the cost of cap-and-trade just by talking about the new fee.

The minister walked away from reporters without answering when asked if the energy board now sets policy for the Liberal government.

The Liberals expect their climate change plan will add about $5 a month to home heating bills and about 4.3 cents a litre to the price of gasoline.

Ontario will join an existing cap-and-trade market with California and Quebec next January, mandating pollution limits on companies but allowing them to buy emission credits or sell them to others if they are under their quota. (Source: CTV News)

Friday April 25, 2014

April 25, 2014 by Graeme MacKay

By Graeme MacKay, The Hamilton Spectator – Friday April 25, 2014

Canada passes US in middle-class wealth

According to a New York Times report, the rich in the US are getting richer, but the poor and middle classes are falling behind some of their Western peers.

“Middle-class incomes in Canada – substantially behind in 2000 – now appear to be higher than in the United States,” David Leonhardt and Kevin Quealy write. “The poor in much of Europe earn more than poor Americans.”

The UK median income is still behind that of the US, but it’s catching up fast – a 19.7% increase since 2000. This is the same increase as Canada’s, whereas the US number was up by only 0.3%. (It’s worth noting that Germany’s middle class is also stagnating – at 1.4%.)

The Times reporters based their conclusions on a survey of household incomes in about 20 countries over the course of 35 years, taking into account inflation, differences in taxes, government benefits and cost of living in different locations.

“With a big share of recent income gains in this country flowing to a relatively small slice of high-earning households, most Americans are not keeping pace with their counterparts around the world,” they write.

The reporters point to three reasons why all but the wealthiest American may be falling behind:

First, educational attainment in the United States has risen far more slowly than in much of the industrialized world over the last three decades, making it harder for the American economy to maintain its share of highly skilled, well-paying jobs…

A second factor is that companies in the United States distribute a smaller share of the bounty to the middle class and poor than similar countries elsewhere…

Finally, governments in Canada and Western Europe take more aggressive steps to raise the take-home pay of low- and middle-income households by redistributing income.

The struggle for middle- and lower-class Americans is reflected in public opinion polls, the reporters write, which generally show greater dissatisfaction with their government than in other Western nations.

If the US middle class has it bad, the poor have it worse.

“The American poor now clearly trail the poor in several other rich countries,” Leonhardt and Quealy write. “At the 20th percentile – where someone is making less than four-fifths of the population – income in both the Netherlands and Canada was 15 percent higher than income in the United States in 2010.” (Source: BBC NEWS)

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