Many of you who have spoken to me over the summer – at festivals, when I knocked on your doors, or at random meetings – are deeply troubled by the intensifying inflation and cost of living crisis. This is being felt particularly in the increased cost of housing; cost of a single-family home in Canada has risen over 80% in the past eight years. Nowhere is the failure of bad fiscal and monetary policy of our federal government being felt more profoundly. Let me caution that the worst is not yet upon us. If mortgage interest rates stay high in Canada for two more years, the impact on mortgagors in Canada will be severe. That is because many Canadians re-mortgaged their homes in 2020, when interest rates were at historic lows. And the most popular mortgage term in Canada is the five-year mortgage. If these homeowners face the increased mortgage cost that is coming, it will increase their payments significantly.
It is essential to recognize this as a policy choice. This is not an accident – it is the outcome of incompetent fiscal and monetary policy. There is a price to pay for this profligacy.
It is not just homes. Even school materials and lunches are now burdensome for many. Recently, the average back-to-school expenditure in Canada reached $700 per student, with school supply costs jumping a staggering 24% in just two years. StatsCan warns parents of skyrocketing lunch box items: bread and rolls by 8.1%, apples 7.8%, and cookies and crackers a staggering 12.4%. Many families are at their breaking point. We need to change this ASAP.
Please contact me at [email protected] or by phone at 403-244-1880 and keep up to date on my work in Parliament on my website, GregMcLeanMP.ca.
Sincerely,
Greg McLean
MP – Calgary Centre Greg McLean proudly serves the following Communities: Altadore, Alyth, Bankview, Bel-Aire , Bonnybrook, Britannia, Burns Industrial, Chinatown, Cliff Bungalow , Connaught (Beltline), Currie, Downtown East Village, Downtown West End, Eau Claire, Elbow Park, Elboya, Erlton, Garrison Green, Garrison Woods, Highfield, Inglewood, Killarney-Glengarry, Lincoln Park, Lower Mount Royal, Manchester, Manchester Industrial, Marda Loop, Mayfair, Meadowlark Park, Mission, Mount Royal, North Glenmore Park, Parkhill, Ramsay, Richmond-Knob Hill, Rideau Park, River Park, Roxboro, Rutland Park, Scarboro, Scarboro/Sunalta West, Shaganappi, South Calgary, Sunalta, Upper Mount Royal, Victoria Park, Windsor Park
