Canada’s December inflation rate climbed to 4.8 per cent, the highest seen in 1991, which has caused worry among residents of Northwestern Ontario.
The recent spike has caused the price of food, housing, and gas to increase drastically.
Ontario Premier, Doug Ford spoke on the province's economic plan with the Q Morning Show on Tuesday (January 25, 2022).
“We’ve created the environment for companies to come from all over the world and invest, grow, and prosper here in Ontario,” Premier Ford said.
Ford went on to say right now the province has 160,000 more people employed than before the pandemic.
“We have 315,000 jobs available as we sit right now. I always say that we created the environment by making sure that we have an attractive jurisdiction for companies to come in and invest.”
Though the COVID-19 pandemic has disrupted the economic growth the premier is heavily invested in building Ontario.
“We’re a government that believes in creating jobs, building new hospitals, schools, and highways, roads, and bridges, and that’s exactly what we’re doing. We’re investing $145 billion into infrastructure.”
The premier said the biggest challenge for the province is they are in need of more people.
“We don’t care where they come from as long as they want to come here, work like everyone else, work hard, and give back to their community. I just can’t wait to get through this and have the economy booming once again.”
Ford concluded by showing his gratitude for Kenora-Rainy River MPP, Greg Rickford who he works closely with.
“He’s a loud voice for not just the north and northwestern [Ontario] but for Kenora as well. He is the reason we’re expanding and twinning Highway 17.”
Statistics Canada said in the Consumer Price Index (CPI) that grocery prices continued to climb in December rising 5.7 per cent year-over-year, which is the largest increase since November 2011.
Prices at the gas pumps were up 33.3 per cent year-over-year in December compared with a 43.6 per cent annual increase in November as tightening of public health restrictions related to the Omicron variant weighed on demand.
On a monthly basis, Canadians paid less for gas as prices fell 4.1 per cent, the largest monthly decline since April 2020.
Ontarians paid 11.8 per cent more for household appliances, which was the most across Canada. This increase contributed to the price growth in the province to be 5.2 per cent in December.
Listen to the full interview here: