"Manitoba has a new distinction, and that distinction is, in January of 2025, we have the highest inflation rate in Canada."
That's from Portage la Prairie MLA Jeff Bereza who outlines affected items including fresh and frozen meat prices that are up almost nine percent, fresh vegetable prices up four percent, dairy prices up four percent, and the cost of renting a home up seven percent.
The Impact on Manitobans
"When you think of that, people right now are deciding, 'Should I pay for groceries, or should I pay for my rent?" I just want to give you a quote from Adrien Sala, who's our Finance Minister. He said, 'The gas tax holiday helped ensure Manitobans had more money in their pocket to afford things like their mortgage and groceries... Manitobans can remain confident our government is doing everything we can to make life as affordable as possible.' Well, making life as affordable as possible is not having the highest rate of inflation in Canada."
A call for change
He notes an immediate cut on inflation can be made at this moment to make us competitive with Saskatchewan and Alberta. The solution? Get rid of the carbon tax.
"The carbon tax is affecting food prices, it's affecting our farmers, and it's affecting all kinds of people. When it comes to the tariffs that we're talking about here, Manitoba is in a position that they are negative to other provinces. We can't even compete with other provinces like Saskatchewan and Alberta because they are currently not charging the carbon tax. We are in a deficit position here. This is no way to treat Manitobans, to have them decide, 'Should I pay my mortgage? Should I pay for rent? Or should I pay for groceries?' It's time the NDP government did something to help Manitobans and helping is not by making the inflation rate the highest in Canada in January."
Legislative assembly responses
When asked what happens when these issues are raised in the Legislative Assembly, Bereza shares his thoughts:
"They'll come back to things they've done, or they'll talk about having a plan. The problem is, we're not seeing the plan. What is the plan? There's a lot of talk, but no action out there. It's brought up all the time. They talked about the Gas Tax Holiday. Well, that's gone. Now we're seeing the effects of the extra price of gasoline. But we're also seeing the extra price of food going up. It's talked about all the time. The problem is, the government is doing a lot of talking and not creating any action. The carbon tax again will go up April 1st, which will put a strain on our population here in Manitoba."
Challenges for local manufacturers
Bereza adds this is bringing more difficulties for local manufacturers. He shares an example of how someone might be selling grain in Manitoba.
"They may have had to dry that grain, so there's an extra cost on drying through the carbon tax. They have no way of recovering that money because grain prices are set and they're set across Canada. So, the farmer has no ability to pass that additional cost on to anyone, if they want to sell their grain. There's no light at the end of the tunnel that I'm seeing."
Statistics
The numbers reveal that in January, a 2.7 per cent inflation rate, the highest in the nation, was noted for Manitoba. Gas prices increased 25.9 per cent with the re-introduction of the gas tax, grocery price inflation is the second highest in the country and is likewise at 2.7 per cent year over year.
- The Consumer Price Index, excluding enrgey, increased 1.8 per cent year over year.
- Fresh and frozen meat prices are up 8.6 per cent
- Beef prices are up 12.4 per cent
- Fresh vegetable prices are up 4 per cent
- Dairy products and eggs up 4.5 per cent
- Cost of renting a home up 7.3 per cent
- Cost of owning a home is up 4.9 per cent
- Seeing as the gas tax has been reintroduced, will see the average family spend an additional $526 in taxes for 2025.
- Provincial property taxes on homeowners are going up $150 million this year.
- Autopac increases are going up 5.7 per cent on April 1.
- Federal Liberal-NDP carbon tax increasing 21 cents per litre for gasoline, 25 cents per litre of diesel, and 18 cents [per cubic metre of natural gas on April 1.
- Carbon tax increases will cost the average household between $133 and $477 in 2025, according to the Parliamentary Budget Officer.
- A typical Manitoba home will pay $64 more in carbon taxes to be heated, which is 19 per cent more, according to MB Hydro.
- The average family of four is expected to spend $800 more on groceries this year, according to the latest Canada Food Price Report
- Food prices are expected to increase by 3% to 5% in 2025, with the most significant rises projected in the meat category, ranging from 4% to 6%
- According to the latest HungerCount report from Food Banks Canada, over 50,000 Manitobans now rely on a food bank every month
- According to the latest MNP Consumer Debt index, half of Manitoba residents (49%) indicated they are $200 or less away from insolvency
- Nearly a third say they are already insolvent (30%), a significant jump of 11 points
- The NDP are advertising a hydro rate freeze that does not exist and has not been approved by the Public Utilities Board, which could decide to raise rates