Ottawa, ON – Today’s consumer price index (CPI) data from StatsCan confirms what Canadians feel every day: life is more and more expensive.
Just months ago, Mark Carney said that Canadians should judge him by prices at the grocery store. Well, the results are in, and Canadians are suffering, with a record 2.2 million Canadians being forced to visit a food bank in a single month.
Food inflation has jumped by 6.2 per cent from December 2024 to December 2025, yet another increase as year-over-year inflation hit 4.2 per cent in November.
Whether at the grocery store or at a restaurant, Canadians are not spared from Liberal inflation and taxes. Food purchased in stores rose 5 per cent in the last year while restaurant bills have increased by 8.5 per cent. 7,000 restaurants shut down in 2025 and a forecast from Dalhousie University’s Agri-Food Analytics Lab predicts that Canada will lose 4,000 restaurants in 2026, especially because of rising costs.
The cost of healthy foods such as fresh or frozen beef, nuts and seeds have skyrocketed in the double digits – 16.8 per cent and 11.2 per cent respectively. Fresh or frozen chicken prices have increased by 6.5 per cent while fish, seafood and other marine products are up 5.7 per cent.
Fruits and vegetables weren’t spared from the Liberal inflation crisis either. Oranges cost 15.1 per cent more than they did a year ago and apple prices have soared by 10.4 per cent. Lettuce and carrots are up by an astounding 12.8 and 10.4 per cent.
It has reached the point where buying a cup of coffee is a luxury for many Canadians and even making it at home is expensive. Roasted or ground coffee prices have surged by 41.2 per cent year over year and coffee and tea prices have sharply increased by 26.5 per cent.
Meanwhile, young parents are feeling the pinch from the ever-increasing cost of infant formula, which has risen by 6.2% in the last year.
Not only is healthy food becoming prohibitively expensive, Canadians can’t even afford to rent, much less purchase, a home. Today’s report confirms that rent is up another 4.9 per cent and property taxes rose 5.6 per cent.
Carney’s response to the higher cost of living was to tell Canadians that they need to “sacrifice” to try to escape price hikes, but they have already sacrificed enough.
Only Conservatives will bring home lower prices by ending inflationary spending, cutting Liberal taxes that drive up the cost of food and housing, and restoring a government that lives to restore the promise of Canada: that if you work hard, you get a good life, in a home you own, with healthy food on the table.