Justin Trudeau's political opponents took aim at him on the campaign trail Wednesday over the cost of living, facing broadsides from Conservatives for the decade-high pace of price growth and the NDP for high housing prices.
The country's headline inflation barometer clocked in at 3.7 per cent in July, which Statistics Canada said was the highest year-over-year increase since May 2011 as price growth accelerated from June.
"It's not restructuring our entire financial system. It's recognizing we need to let families get ahead and at the same time support brick-and-mortar retail stores that are falling behind," O'Toole said at an event outlining his party's plans to increase accountability in government. Speaking in Vancouver, where he promised extra aid to fight wildfires and help for homeowners to fund climate-change retrofits, Trudeau said he respected the independence of the central bank to set its own policies to manage inflation
Statistics Canada said on Wednesday that part of the elevated inflation reading for July is because prices are being compared to the lows seen one year ago during the early months of the pandemic, particularly gasoline and food. There is also higher demand for houses as people spend more time at home and eye rock-bottom interest rates. The price for homes rose nearly 14 per cent year-over-year in July, the largest increase since October 1987.
"If people are able to live a good life, if we can take off the burden of worrying about the cost of medication or the cost of taking care of their teeth, if we can make sure people have a home that's within their budget, we all benefit," Singh said.
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