Behind the latest CPI Numbers: Inflation Slows, But Living Costs Don’t

Todayville

Published

6 months ago

7 minute read

Dan Knight

Behind the 1.7% headline, falling gas prices mask deeper affordability issues—from rising rents and mortgage costs to inflated essentials still burdening working Canadians.

Canada’s latest Consumer Price Index (CPI) report dropped this week, and if you believe the headlines, things are looking up. The Trudeau government is gone, Mark Carney is in charge, and the narrative from the media-industrial complex is that inflation is under control. The truth, however, is far more complicated—and much uglier.

Let’s break it down.

The Good

Let’s start with the headline everyone’s pretending is a victory: inflation is at 1.7%. That’s the lowest in recent memory. Great, right? Well, before we throw a parade for Mark Carney and the ghost of Justin Trudeau, let’s be honest about why that number dropped.

It’s because they killed the carbon tax. That’s it. The federal consumer carbon levy—gone as of April 1st—took a sledgehammer to gasoline prices. Down 15.5% year-over-year. That’s not Liberal brilliance; that’s what happens when you stop punishing working people for heating their homes and driving to their jobs. It’s the most obvious economic lesson in the world—and it took a political collapse to learn it.

And sure, some other costs went down too. Airfare, travel tours, natural gas—all dipping. But let’s be honest here: how many average Canadians are flying to tropical resorts right now? Those declines are meaningless unless you’re upper-middle class or live in a city with piped-in gas. For most people, this isn’t relief—it’s background noise.

So yes, things look “better” on paper. But that’s only because Ottawa stopped making them actively worse. Don’t confuse less harm with actual help.

The Bad

Now, if you strip away the smoke and mirrors—take out gas and energy, the very components that dropped because the Liberals stopped interfering—you’ll find core inflation is still sitting at 2.7%. That’s above the Bank of Canada’s target. So while they’re bragging about a “cooling economy,” everything that actually matters to working people is still getting more expensive.

Start with rent—up 4.5% nationwide. And in Ontario, where they’re spinning it as a “slowdown,” it’s still climbing at 3%. Let’s be blunt: this is the Trudeau housing crisis in full bloom. Years of unchecked immigration, foreign investment, and anti-building regulations have created a market where young Canadians can’t dream of buying, and now can’t even afford to rent. This isn’t stability—it’s metastasis.

And then there’s food. Up 3.4% year-over-year. That’s every single trip to the grocery store hitting harder. Why? Because for years, this government pumped the economy full of cheap cash, shut down critical supply chains, and slapped on regulation after regulation—then acted shocked when bread and eggs cost more than your phone bill.

So no, the bad news didn’t disappear. It’s just buried under a layer of statistical gaslighting.

The Ugly

This is where the mask really slips.

Let’s start with mortgage interest—up 6.2% year-over-year. That’s the 21st consecutive month of rising costs for homeowners. Why? Because the Carney–Trudeau economic cartel raised rates into the stratosphere to fix the very inflation they helped ignite. Now the middle class is getting crushed under monthly payments they can’t afford, and the Liberal elite shrugs, sipping Chardonnay in their fully paid-off Ottawa brownstones.

But it doesn’t stop there.

Telephone services shot up 7.2% in just one month. Remember when Trudeau promised affordable internet and more competition in telecom? Yeah—didn’t happen. Instead, we’ve got an oligopoly of pampered monopolies bleeding Canadians dry, with zero consequences. They feast, you pay. That’s the Liberal model.

And then there’s the EV scam—the real gem of elite technocracy. New car prices are up 4.9%, driven mostly by electric vehicles. Why? Because the government is subsidizing them with your tax dollars while simultaneously making it harder and more expensive to buy a gas-powered car. They call it “green policy”—you call it unaffordable transportation.

This isn’t economic policy. It’s social engineering through price pain. And it’s working—just not for you.

Final Thoughts

So here’s where we are: inflation is down—but not because of any real reform. It’s down because the Liberals were forced, kicking and screaming, to repeal a tax that never should’ve existed. Meanwhile, the real cost of living continues to grind down working Canadians, and the architects of this disaster are still in power—just with a different name on the door.

Mark Carney, Trudeau’s former banker-in-chief, is now the frontman for the same agenda: globalist economics, central planning, and performative concern for affordability—all while mortgage costs rise, rent stays unaffordable, and you get nickeled and dimed on everything from food to phone bills.

They’ll tell you this is progress. It’s not. It’s a managed decline, and the only reason it’s slowing is because the wrecking crew paused long enough to read the polls.

Don’t be fooled by the numbers. This is what it looks like when a political class tries to walk back years of economic sabotage without ever admitting fault. They won’t stop unless you make them.

Until then, this isn’t a recovery—it’s a recalibration of how much you’re allowed to lose. And the people who built the system want you to be grateful for it.

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Chrystia Freeland Didn’t Leave Power. She Just Took It Somewhere Else

Published on January 5, 2026

Todayville

Kelsi Sheren

Canadians were told freezing bank accounts was “necessary.” We were told sending billions overseas without a vote was “solidarity.” And now we’re told that Chrystia Freeland the architect of some of the most aggressive financial overreach in modern Canadian history advising a foreign government on economic policy is “normal.” It isn’t. It’s a closed circle of power rewarding itself, while ordinary Canadians are expected to forget what was done to them and quietly foot the bill.

I don’t believe in coincidences in politics and I don’t believe in “honourary” appointments when billions of dollars and unchecked power are involved. So when Chrystia Freeland, the same woman who helped freeze Canadians’ bank accounts, torched public trust, and oversaw economic decisions that hollowed out this country is suddenly appointed as an economic adviser to Ukraine, Canadians should stop and ask a very uncomfortable question.

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Who exactly is Chrystia serving? Because it doesn’t look like us and doesn’t feel like us at all. I’m going to make something very clear and spell it out for Canadians… this is the same elite just moved to a different country.

Chrystia Freeland did not leave politics because she failed. She didn’t resign because she was rejected. She exited after years of consolidating power at the highest levels of government and immediately landed an advisory role with a foreign head of state.

That is not a fall from grace. That is a lateral move inside the same elite ecosystem.

Multiple Canadian outlets have now confirmed that Freeland has been named an economic adviser to Ukrainian President Zelenskyy. This is not symbolic. This is not charity. This is about economic reconstruction, international financing, sanctions, and the movement of billions of dollars, much of it, if not all of it is Western taxpayer money.

Including ours.

Has everyone forgotten what this women did to Canadians?? Before anyone starts calling this “statesmanship,” let’s remember the record.

Chrystia Freeland was a central figure during one of the most dangerous moments in modern Canadian governance: the normalization of financial punishment against citizens.

Under her watch, the federal government froze bank accounts without criminal charges, without due process, and without judicial oversight. Whatever your view of the Freedom Convoy, that precedent should have terrified you and if it doesn’t you need to wake up.

Once a government proves it can financially erase you for dissent, it never unlearns that lesson.

She also presided over years of reckless spending, inflationary pressure, and policies that pushed Canadians into a cost-of-living crisis while telling them everything was fine. Housing exploded. Food prices surged. Small businesses collapsed.

And now — suddenly — she’s being handed influence over another country’s economic future? The money no one voted on is now gone with no recourse and she knows it.

Canada has already sent billions of dollars to Ukraine, including roughly $2.5 billion tied to frozen Russian assets — without any direct vote from Canadians and with minimal parliamentary scrutiny.

Let that sit for a minute.

Our government helped set a precedent where foreign sovereign assets are frozen, leveraged, and redirected — and now one of the architects of that approach is advising the very government receiving the funds.

You don’t need to be a lawyer to understand how rotten that looks. At minimum, this is a conflict of interest. At worst, it’s a closed-loop system where the same political actors make the rules, move the money, and then step into advisory roles on the receiving end.

That’s not democracy. That’s managed power. People will say, “Ukraine needs help rebuilding.” Fine. That’s not the argument. The argument is who decides, who benefits, and who is accountable.

Chrystia Freeland still carries enormous influence inside Canada’s political and financial institutions. Her appointment creates a pipeline — informal, opaque, and unaccountable between Canadian decision-makers and a foreign government dependent on Western funds.

If an average Canadian MP took a paid or unpaid advisory role with a foreign government, alarms would be ringing, but when it’s Chrystia Freeland, we’re told it’s noble. Necessary. Above criticism.

That’s how corruption survives. Not through secrecy, but through normalization.

Canadians are always last, here’s the pattern Canadians are starting to see clearly, I hope. Canadians are being forced to tighten their belts. Canadians lose purchasing power on almost everything and Canadians are told to accept less and the sad part is Canadians are good with this.

Meanwhile, political elites move effortlessly between governments, NGOs, global institutions, and advisory boards. All it is, is different flags. Same class of people.

The people who suffered under Freeland’s economic policies don’t get to resign into prestige. They get debt. They get anxiety. They get silence.

She gets influence.

In case your wondering, this isn’t really about Ukraine, this is not an attack on Ukraine or its people. This is about Canadian democracy, accountability, and the dangerous precedent being set when unelected influence replaces public consent.

If Canadians are expected to fund wars, reconstruction, and foreign policy projects — then Canadians deserve transparency, debate, and representation.

Instead, we’re getting appointments behind closed doors and press releases that assume we won’t ask questions.

That era is long over.

Chrystia Freeland didn’t disappear. She didn’t retreat. She repositioned.

If Canadians don’t start calling this what it is — elite continuity without consent — then we shouldn’t be surprised when the same tactics used against citizens at home are exported abroad.

Power always practices somewhere first.

KELSI SHEREN

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Business

Policy uncertainty continues to damage Canada’s mining potential

Published on January 5, 2026

Todayville

From the Fraser Institute

By Julio Mejía and Elmira Aliakbari

According to a new survey of mining investors, despite the rich mineral potential of many Canadian jurisdictions, government policies are deterring investment

Canada is renowned for its abundant minerals and network of engineering firms with mining experience. These advantages, coupled with the rising global demand for copper, lithium, nickel, cobalt and rare-earth elements, should spur growing interest in our mining sector among investors. Yet, mining investment in Canada is on the wane.

In nominal terms, exploration investment alone fell from $4.4 billion in 2022 to $4.2 billion in 2023, with preliminary numbers for 2024 suggesting a further 2 per cent drop. And several leading exploration companies including Solaris Resources Inc., Falcon Energy Materials and Barrick Mining Corporation (the world’s second-largest mining company) have either moved their headquarters out of Canada or are considering doing so.

This downward trend extends beyond just exploration investment. In 2023 (the latest year of available data) investment in Canada’s mining sector totalled $15.2 billion, 26 per cent below the record-high $20.5 billion in 2012 (inflation-adjusted).

So, why is one of the most mineral-rich countries on Earth losing investor interest?

According to a new survey of mining investors, despite the rich mineral potential of many Canadian jurisdictions, government policies are deterring investment.

Take British Columbia, Yukon and Manitoba, for example. Although all three rank among the world’s top 10 most attractive jurisdictions for their mineral endowment, all three fall far behind in policy perception, ranking 32nd, 40th and 43rd out of 82 jurisdictions, respectively. The Northwest Territories (56th), Nunavut (59th) and Nova Scotia (76th) also rank low in terms of policy, while Saskatchewan (3rd), Newfoundland and Labrador (6th) and Alberta (9th) are the only Canadian jurisdictions that perform well.

Indeed, in multiple editions of the mining survey over many years, investors have cited policy uncertainty as a key deterrent to investment in many Canadian jurisdictions. In particular, uncertainty around disputed land claims, protected areas and environmental regulations.

Of course, Canadian jurisdictions compete with jurisdictions around the world including in the United States. And the differences in investor perception are striking. While a strong majority of survey respondents for B.C. (76 per cent), Manitoba (75 per cent) and the Yukon (69 per cent) say uncertainty around disputed land claims deters investment, the percentages are much smaller for Nevada (13 per cent) and Arizona (16 per cent). Similarly, the percentage of respondents who say uncertainty around protected areas deters investment for B.C. (76 per cent), the Yukon (76 per cent) and Manitoba (63 per cent) was much larger than for Wyoming (11 per cent) and Nevada (27 per cent).

To build new mining projects, develop technologies that improve productivity, create jobs and help spread prosperity, Canadian jurisdictions must attract investment. In 2023, mining was Canada’s second-leading export, trailing only energy, and contributed $117 billion to Canada’s total economic output. More importantly, that same year the industry provided a livelihood for 711,000 Canadians while paying wages that nearly double the average of other industries. And according to a 2021 census, the sector provided jobs to more than 17,300 First Nations people, making it one of the largest employers of Indigenous workers in the country.

Bad policies create uncertainty and deter investment. If policymakers are serious about unleashing Canada’s mining potential, they must eliminate regulatory uncertainty and establish a predictable policy framework. Otherwise, the country will keep declining in the eyes of investors.