Parents of infant who died in wrong-way crash on Ontario's Hwy. 401 were in same vehicle
Ontario’s Special Investigations Unit has released new details about a wrong-way collision in Whitby on Monday night that claimed the lives of four people.
Food prices in Canada are soaring as higher input costs, shipping fees and wages push the food inflation rate to 6.5 per cent - the biggest year-over-year jump in grocery bills in more than a decade.
Statistics Canada said Wednesday the increase in food prices in January outpaced the overall annual inflation rate of 5.1 per cent.
Meat, bread and fruit were just some of the food items pushing up the cost of groceries, the agency said.
Higher food prices reflect a raft of issues, including the rising cost of goods, labour shortages and supply chain disruptions, experts say.
“It's layer upon layer of issues that are compounding to create these skyrocketing prices,” said Simon Somogyi, University of Guelph professor and Arrell Chair in the Business of Food.
“The cost of everything across the food supply chain is getting so expensive and that's the same for farms, wholesalers, packers and processors right up to retailers. All these things are coming together on top of other issues like winter storms and shipping delays and the result is higher prices.”
Canadians paid 7.4 per cent more for bakery products in January compared with a year ago, an extra 16.5 per cent for margarine and 12.1 per cent more for condiments, spices and vinegars, Statistics Canada said.
Supply chain disruptions and unfavourable growing conditions also pushed fresh fruit prices up 8.2 per cent, the agency said.
Meanwhile, the price of beef jumped a whopping 13 per cent while chicken was up nine per cent and fish increased 7.9 per cent.
“We're starting to see commodity price increases ripple through to the grocery store,” said Stuart Smyth, associate professor and research chair in Agri-Food Innovation at the University of Saskatchewan.
“We'll see those higher beef prices continually for the next several months.”
Alcohol prices are on the rise as well.
Retail store prices for beer rose 4.7 per cent year-over-year, while wine prices were up 1.9 per cent owing to higher shipping and material costs for things like corks, bottles and cans.
Higher prices may prompt some Canadians to change their regular grocery purchases in a bid to save money.
Experts say some shoppers will opt for conventional fruits and vegetables rather than pricier organic options. Others might be inclined to buy a grocery store brand rather than a name brand product.
Consumers can also make a grocery list before heading to the store - and stick to it - to avoid impulse purchases, use grocery store flyers to bargain hunt, consider more affordable plant-based alternative products and buy frozen fruit and vegetables rather than fresh.
“Frozen berries, peas, corns and other types of vegetables are a lot cheaper,” Somogyi said. “They may not taste as good but they're a lot lower in price.”
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Feb. 16, 2022.
Ontario’s Special Investigations Unit has released new details about a wrong-way collision in Whitby on Monday night that claimed the lives of four people.
Three men in Quebec from the same family have fathered more than 600 children.
A British Columbia mayor has been censured by city council – stripping him of his travel and lobbying budgets and removing him from city committees – for allegedly distributing a book that questions the history of Indigenous residential schools in Canada.
A spike in impaired driving-related collisions has caused Ontario’s provincial police to begin enforcing mandatory alcohol screening (MAS) at all traffic stops in the Greater Toronto Area -- a move one civil rights group says is ‘not acceptable.’
William Nylander scored twice and Joseph Woll made 22 saves as the Toronto Maple Leafs downed the Boston Bruins 2-1 on Thursday to force Game 7 in their first-round series.
Jurors in the hush money trial of Donald Trump heard a recording Thursday of him discussing with his then-lawyer and personal fixer a plan to purchase the silence of a Playboy model who has said she had an affair with the former president.
Staff at a small southern Alberta office supply store were shocked to find someone had broken into the business last week, but they were even more confused when they discovered the culprit was a bear.
A federal judge on Thursday sentenced a scuba dive boat captain to four years in custody and three years supervised release for criminal negligence after 34 people died in a fire aboard the vessel.
Fake text message and email campaigns trying to get money and information out of unsuspecting Canadian taxpayers have started circulating, just months after the federal government rebranded the carbon tax rebate the Canada Carbon Rebate.
Three men in Quebec from the same family have fathered more than 600 children.
A group of SaskPower workers recently received special recognition at the legislature – for their efforts in repairing one of Saskatchewan's largest power plants after it was knocked offline for months following a serious flood last summer.
A police officer on Montreal's South Shore anonymously donated a kidney that wound up drastically changing the life of a schoolteacher living on dialysis.
Since 1932, Montreal's Henri Henri has been filled to the brim with every possible kind of hat, from newsboy caps to feathered fedoras.
Police in Oak Bay, B.C., had to close a stretch of road Sunday to help an elephant seal named Emerson get safely back into the water.
Out of more than 9,000 entries from over 2,000 breweries in 50 countries, a handful of B.C. brews landed on the podium at the World Beer Cup this week.
Raneem, 10, lives with a neurological condition and liver disease and needs Cholbam, a medication, for a longer and healthier life.
The lawyer for a residential school survivor leading a proposed class-action defamation lawsuit against the Catholic Church over residential schools says the court action is a last resort.
Mounties in Nanaimo, B.C., say two late-night revellers are lucky their allegedly drunken antics weren't reported to police after security cameras captured the men trying to steal a heavy sign from a downtown business.