Today, in a desperate attempt to make the economic situation sound like anything less than the disaster the Liberals have created, Deputy Prime Minister Chrystia Freeland said “Inflation in December was down to 3.4 percent and that number is 2.5 percent if you exclude mortgage costs.”
In fact, inflation was up in December to 3.4 percent, far above the target rate of 2 percent, and Canadians still do need a place to sleep. Excluding mortgage costs from inflation is a denial of the reality that faces Canadians. As a direct result of Trudeau and Freeland’s inflationary spending and taxes, Bank of Canada Governor Tiff Macklem is threatening that future rate hikes are not off the table.
Before Freeland releases another budget full of inflationary spending, and before they raise their inflationary taxes on carbon and alcohol, the Liberals are trying to convince Canadians that everything is fine. But Canadians are not fine. In the last couple of weeks, repeated reports have shown that Canadians are paying record-high and rapidly escalating rents, grocery inflation remains at nearly 5 percent and 40 percent of Nova Scotians struggle to pay their electricity bills.
Minister Freeland doesn’t want you to worry though. According to Freeland, inflation is fine! Unless you have to pay for shelter, food or other basic necessities.
Instead of manipulating the facts to downplay Canadians’ pain, the Liberals could do real, tangible things that would reduce inflation. They could start by supporting a common sense Conservative motion to cancel the April 1 hike of the carbon tax, and follow that by opposing the Senate amendments to the Conservative bill C-234 to axe the tax for farmers.