Singh: With the rise of inflation and the cost-of-living, government must act to alleviate pressure on family budgets

In a letter to the Prime Minister, the NDP Leader pushes for immediate action to reduce negative impacts of the upcoming interest rate hike on Canadians

OTTAWA — On Friday, NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh pushed Prime Minister Justin Trudeau to act in reducing the squeeze families are feeling with inflation, which will hurt more with the planned increase to interest rates later this week. Canadians are already having to pay higher mortgage and credit card fees, and with the upcoming interest rate hike, will have to find a way to squeeze their family budgets even more. Singh is reminding the Prime Minister that he has a role to play to make sure families are not the always feeling the crunch.

“Our country is currently faced with a cost-of-living crisis, with food prices at a 40 year high. And while families across the country are having to make hard decisions about their family budgets, some in this country are doing just fine and actually profiting from inflation," said Singh. "One might say that everyone suffers from inflation – but they surely don’t suffer equally. Right now, big corporations’ profits are going up twice as fast as inflation. And workers’ wages aren’t keeping up. Yet, for the last 6 months, the Liberal government has spent more time congratulating itself and finding excuses not to act to fight inflation. This is wrong."

In his letter, Singh laid out concrete measures that the Liberals should include in their upcoming Fall Economic statement to ensure people aren’t left to fend for themselves in these difficult times. Among those measures, the NDP proposed tackling the corporate greed that is driving up food prices by making it easier to prosecute price fixing by corporations that are only interested in lining their pockets on the backs of Canadians. New Democrats are also pushing the Liberals to immediately fix Employment Insurance so that if a recession happens, no worker is left behind. Because of Liberal government inaction, 60% of Canadian workers are currently unable to access EI if they lose their job.

“In the government's upcoming Fall Economic statement, New Democrats expect to see a much more robust strategy to protect Canadians against the effects of inflation and a coming recession," added Singh. “As always, we are ready to get to work to get these important things done for Canadians. After a pandemic, a cost-of-living crisis and now a possible recession – brought on in part by the overly aggressive actions of the Bank of Canada and the indifference of the Liberal government – Canadians desperately need us to act to prepare for the coming economic storm.”