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.