Canada's April inflation data set to show impact of carbon price removal
See more sharing options
Send this page to someone via email
Share this item on Twitter
Share this item via WhatsApp
Share this item on Facebook
Statistics Canada is set to release inflation data for April today.
Market data shows economists on average expect the annual rate of inflation cooled to 1.6 per cent last month, from 2.3 per cent in March.
The Liberal government eliminated the consumer carbon price at the start of April, offering motorists some relief at the pump.
2:04
Gas prices fall after consumer carbon tax ends in most of Canada
Last month also marked the first full month of tariffs between Canada and the United States, though both sides have offered some exemptions in the trade dispute.
Story continues below advertisement
RSM economist Tu Nguyen says she doesn't expect tariffs to drive the headline inflation number higher yet even if Canadians ended up paying more for certain goods like autos last month.
The April inflation figures come a little more than two weeks before the Bank of Canada is set to make its next interest rate decision on June 4.
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Cision Canada
3 hours ago
- Cision Canada
BuyCanadianGroup.ca Announces First All-Canadian Online Department Store
TORONTO, June 25, 2025 /CNW/ - Canadians eager to support local now have a new way to discover and buy home–grown products. is the country's first online department store featuring exclusively Canadian brands. Shoppers can explore a curated catalogue of Canadian products and complete a one–click, multi–brand checkout—knowing every dollar stays in Canada. Early momentum is strong: new brands are joining every day, including Pluck Tea, Maker's Clean by cleaning expert Melissa Maker, and Indigenous–owned Cheekbone Beauty. Thousands of Canadians have pre–registered, and leading domestic investors have already provided seed funding. "Eighty–five percent of Canadians are actively looking for Canadian alternatives. Catalogues and directories aren't enough. Canada needs a new department store—one that features all Canadian brands," said Dave Lazar, Founder of Buy Canadian Group. "We give shoppers an easy way to fill their cart and know they're buying Canadian." Product discovery is supercharged with Buy Canadian TV, a shoppable video destination where Canadian personalities and creators help shoppers discover Canadian alternatives in live streams and replays with on-screen shopping. Brands, meanwhile, can connect with consumers who are now looking to discover Canadian products. Powered by Canadian live shopping platform Stage TEN, launch shows feature Melissa Maker (Clean My Space, 2.1 million YouTube subscribers) and Harley Morenstein (Epic Meal Time, 6.7 million subscribers). Partnerships with Digital First Canada and Andromedia Distribution will soon make 8,000 + hours of Canadian video fully shoppable with Canadian products. is currently welcoming applications from Canadian–owned brands of all sizes and offers one–click onboarding for the more than 110,000 Canadian Shopify merchants. About Buy Canadian Group is building the first all-Canadian online department store to make it easy for Canadians to discover and buy Canadian goods in a single checkout experience. SOURCE Buy Canadian Group Inc.
CTV News
3 hours ago
- CTV News
Canadians are falling further into debt, beyond just pay cheque to pay cheque living
Year over year a growing number of Canadians have fallen into debt. The stark reality for many Canadians is living pay cheque to pay cheque, but new data suggests it's even worse for a growing number of families that are falling behind every month. 'It's no longer pay cheque to pay cheque its bill to bill and when people are in financial difficulty a lot of times it's a pick and choose what bill you are going to pay,' says Paul Ihnatiuk, BDO Canada Vice President. Ihapiuk explains that data shows more Canadians are missing loan payments at a faster rate than taking on new debt. 'Consumer debt in Canada has hit 2.55 trillion and the average nonmortgage debt rose to $21,859. In the Maritimes, amongst Nova Scotians, the nonmortgage average sits at just over $21,000 and that's an increase of three percent,' adds Ihnatiuk. He explains that delinquencies in Nova Scotia are also up 5.2 per cent. New Brunswickers are falling even further behind with delinquencies being up nine per cent compared to last year. P.E.I. saw the largest increase in nonmortgage debt being $24,000, which Ihnatiuk explains is higher than the national average. Tina Powell, a licensed insolvency trustee with MNP Debt, adds that the number of Maritimers living in debt increases year over year. 'About 86 per cent of people are being cautious about taking on new debt because they don't have the ability to repay it,' states Powell. She explains that many are facing mortgage renewals and rent increases, both having substantial impacts on their monthly budget. 'While many have made necessary adjustments to their budgets and to cut out unnecessary items and decrease their living expenses, many don't have a cushion to deal with these increased costs,' adds Powell. Doris Asiedu with Credit Canada says she knows people are living pay cheque to pay cheque even prior to the interest rate hikes. She has spoken with a number of clients who are experiencing inadequacies in their income. 'I see about six or more clients a day and about two out of the six would say things are tight and one pay cheque away from a disaster,' says Asiedu. She explains that there are a number of reasons why people are struggling but a lot is to do with cost of living and incomes not keeping up. 'Not having adequate income to sustain their families, people are working hard but the paycheque isn't enough, and there is an underlying reason for lack of financial literacy,' adds Asiedu. Ihnatiuk also explains that debt is growing faster in Canada than incomes are. 'Household debt is now at a rate of 173.9 per cent. What that means is on average when Canadians earn a dollar of disposable income, they now owe a $1.74 in debt,' say Ihnatiuk. Ihnatiuk states it's even more concerning that Canadians are struggling to manage their debt. 'Nonmortgage delinquencies are at a level that we have not seen since 2009, in fact 2009 is when we had the great recession,' says Ihnatiuk. Compared to what BDO saw last year, Ihnatiuk says Canadians are struggling and falling further into debt and they just can't maintain their payments anymore. 'They're taking debt from one credit card so they are taking a cash advantage and they are paying it for a minimum on another,' explains Ihnatiuk. These experts say it's important for people to budget the best they can and if they need help not to be ashamed to ask for it because they are not alone, and many are going through the same struggles.
Global News
5 hours ago
- Global News
What is NATO's new 5% defence spending pledge, and how will Canada meet it?
Canada joined its NATO allies on Wednesday in agreeing to a new defence spending target of five per cent of GDP — but the details are more complicated. Members of the alliance will have until 2035 to reach the new spending goal, for one thing. And the five per cent is being split into two categories: 'core defence requirements' and broader defence-related infrastructure and industry. Speaking to reporters at The Hague at the NATO summit, Prime Minister Mark Carney expressed confidence that Canada will achieve its new objectives after lagging behind the alliance's spending goals for years. 'We've arrived at this summit looking forward with a plan to help lead with new investments to build our strength,' he said. 'The investments we're making in defence and security, broader security, given the new threats that Canada faces — we're not at a trade-off, we're not at sacrifices in order to do those. These will be net-additive.' Story continues below advertisement Carney did note that towards the end of the decade, Canadians would likely need to have conversations around 'trade-offs' for continued high defence spending. 2:09 NATO 5% defence spending target tops agenda at Netherlands summit David Perry, president of the Canadian Global Affairs Institute who attended the summit in Brussels, said the defence spending increase Canada will have to undertake is the largest since the 'massive' ramp-up during the Second World War. 'This is a complete game changer for Canada's defence,' he told Global News. Here's what to know about the new spending pledge and what Canada plans to do in order to achieve it. What's in the 5% spending pledge? The official declaration from the NATO leaders' summit pledges a new commitment to invest five per cent of GDP annually 'on core defence requirements as well as defence-and security-related spending by 2035.' Story continues below advertisement The pledge marks a substantial increase from the alliance's previous commitment to spend at least two per cent of GDP on defence, which was agreed to in 2014 and which Canada for years consistently failed to meet. The new target includes at least 3.5 per cent of GDP on defence expenditures, which NATO defines as funding primarily toward a country's armed forces. That includes everything from large-scale military equipment like fighter jets and submarines, to ammunition, to salaries and pensions for military members, to related defence forces like national police and coast guards. The second spending category is up to 1.5 per cent of GDP toward broadly-defined initiatives to 'protect our critical infrastructure, defend our networks, ensure our civil preparedness and resilience, unleash innovation, and strengthen our defence industrial base,' according to the summit declaration. NATO leaders agreed to review the new spending plan in 2029 to ensure it aligns with the global threat environment at that time. 'Our investments will ensure we have the forces, capabilities, resources, infrastructure, warfighting readiness, and resilience needed to deter and defend in line with our three core tasks of deterrence and defence, crisis prevention and management, and cooperative security,' the declaration says. How will Canada get there? Canada has long lagged behind the previous two per cent NATO target. According to NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte's annual report released in April, Canada's defence spending likely hit 1.45 per cent last year. Story continues below advertisement Carney previously announced Canada will reach two per cent by the end of the current fiscal year in March — half a decade earlier than previously estimated — with $9.3 billion in new funding. 2:07 How will Canada meet its defence spending targets? Much of that money will go toward pay increases for Canadian Armed Forces members and enhancing existing military bases and equipment, while also shoring up the domestic defence industrial base. Get daily National news Get the day's top news, political, economic, and current affairs headlines, delivered to your inbox once a day. Sign up for daily National newsletter Sign Up By providing your email address, you have read and agree to Global News' Terms and Conditions and Privacy Policy 'At the core of our defence investment, of course, are the men and women of the Canadian Armed Forces,' Carney said Wednesday while framing the earlier announcement as 'working toward' the new 3.5 per cent core defence target. Carney noted those military members 'have not been paid to reflect what we are asking them to do' and have been stuck with outdated or non-working equipment. Story continues below advertisement 'We're making up for that and level setting that, and that's an important part of just what we're doing this year in terms of the increase in defence.' As for the 1.5 per cent portion, Carney said that will include 'ports, airports, infrastructure to support the development and exportation of critical minerals, telecommunications and emergency preparedness systems.' He added that allies 'will buy more equipment and technology made in Canada, by Canadian workers in shipyards, in labs, and shop floors right across our country,' which will not only contribute to that 1.5 per cent portion but also grow the Canadian economy. 'We'll make the drones, the icebreakers, the aerospace technologies, and much more that's needed to build a more secure world,' he said. 6:20 PM Carney pledges to meet NATO's 2% defence spending target this year Carney noted much of the work towards those initiatives is already underway. Story continues below advertisement He's previously said the major projects legislation passed by the House of Commons last week — which could become law by Friday after a Senate review — will ensure 'nation-building' projects like critical minerals mining and transport will be built quickly. 'Canada has one of the biggest and most varied deposits of critical minerals, and we're going to develop those' both domestically and with international partners, Carney told CNN in an interview that aired Tuesday. 'Some of the spending for that counts towards that five per cent. In fact, a lot of it will happen towards that five per cent because of infrastructure spending, ports and railroads and other ways to get these minerals. So that's something that benefits the Canadian economy, but is also part of our new NATO responsibility.' Carney also noted to both CNN and to reporters Wednesday that as the nature of warfare changes, with threat actors turning to cyberwarfare and pilotless technologies like drones, Canada will pivot toward those priorities as well and costs and expenditures will change accordingly. That, he said Wednesday, makes it difficult to predict how much Canada will need to spend on defence 10 years from now. Can Canada achieve all this? Carney estimated to CNN that five per cent of Canada's GDP currently equates to $150 billion annually. Story continues below advertisement Perry said Canada can reach the new spending targets on the timeline set by NATO 'if the government actually makes it a priority,' noting it would cost less than what Ottawa spent to combat the COVID-19 pandemic and provide economic supports during that relatively shorter time period. 'That was hundreds of billions of dollars of spending annually,' he said. 'This is going to be tens of billions dollars of spending — a huge amount of money, don't get me wrong, but it's not nearly as much on an annual basis as we did to combat the pandemic. 'So if the Government Canada wants to see this through, it can absolutely happen.' 2:06 Canada needs to spend $150B per year for new NATO target: Carney Carney said international defence partnerships like the one Canada signed this week with the European Union, as well as the one being negotiated with the United States, will help keep domestic costs down. Story continues below advertisement 'If you all of a sudden start spending a lot more money in one area, you can end up spending a lot more money on rising prices and choke points,' he said. 'That's part of the reason why we're co-operating more closely with the Europeans, part of the reason why we continue co-operation with the U.S. in the right areas, but also part of the reason why this increase will happen at a measured pace, or we'll try to do it at a measured pace.' Perry noted the wording of the agreement gives Canada and other allies 'a lot less rigor and fidelity around the additional 1.5 percent of non-core defence spending.' Kevin Page, the former parliamentary budget officer and president of the Institute of Fiscal Studies and Democracy at the University of Ottawa, told Global News the overall spending increase is 'feasible, but it will be challenging.' 'We're going to need to see the strategy and the plan that kind of goes with it,' he said, both in the upcoming budget in the fall and other detailed reports on defence spending. Where are other allies at? NATO says it expects all 32 alliance members to reach the earlier two per cent target this year, compared to just three allies in 2014. Story continues below advertisement According to Rutte's annual report, only Poland has met or surpassed the new 3.5 per cent target for core defence spending, having hit 4.07 per cent last year. The United States — whose president Donald Trump has pushed for the five per cent target, as well as Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania, spent above three per cent of their GDP on defence in 2024. The annual report noted that the U.S. last year accounted for 64 per cent of defence expenditures among all NATO allies, with the other 31 members making up the rest. Rutte on Wednesday credited Trump, who has criticized the alliance and even threatened to not defend members that don't pay enough for defence, for shifting that dynamic. 'He was totally right that Europe and Canada were not basically providing to NATO what we should provide, and that the U.S. was spending so much more on defence than the Europeans and the Canadians,' he said. 'Now we are correcting that. We are equalizing.' —With files from Global's Nathaniel Dove
