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Canada's inflation rate now at 7.7% — its highest point since 1983 – CBC News

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Canada’s inflation rate rose at its fastest pace in almost 40 years in the year up to May, as the price of just about everything continues to go up fast.

Statistics Canada reported Wednesday that an uptick in the price of gasoline was a major factor causing the overall inflation rate to hit 7.7 per cent. Gas prices rose by 12 per cent in the month of May alone, and are up by 48 per cent compared to where they were a year ago.

Food prices were also a major factor to the upside, with grocery bills increasing by 9.7 per cent over the past year. Within the food category, the cost of edible fats and oils skyrocketed 30 per cent, the fastest increase on record.

Russia’s invasion of Ukraine is a major factor in that uptick, as Ukraine is one of the world’s leading suppliers of sunflower oil, and the war has caused shortages of the pantry staple.

WATCH | How are you dealing with high inflation?

How are you dealing with inflation?

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Charlottetown, P.E.I. has the highest inflation rate in Canada so CBC News hit the streets to ask people how they are coping.

Jamil Bhuya, who runs Toronto restaurant Burgers n’ Fries Forever, is feeling those increases acutely. From meat for burgers, to flour for buns and even cardboard for packaging, he’s seen the price of just about everything he needs to run his business skyrocket during the pandemic. Sharply higher costs for vegetable oils for his fryer are just the latest setback. 

“We’ve seen things go up literally 50 per cent overnight and it’s been very hard to stomach,” he told CBC News in an interview. He has tried to keep prices low for his customers; he knows there is a limit to how much he can charge without losing business. “Luckily, burgers have always been kind of recession proof and even pandemic proof.”

Jamil Bhuya, who runs Toronto restaurant Burgers n’ Fries Forever, is feeling price increases acutely. From meat for burgers to flour for buns and even cardboard for packaging, he’s seen the price of just about everything he needs to run his business skyrocket during the pandemic (Nisha Patel/CBC)

The cost of home furnishings are also rising at a record-setting clip, with furniture prices increasing by 15.8 per cent in the past year, mostly due to higher input and shipping costs. A major factor in that increase was the start of tariffs of up to 300 per cent on some upholstered furniture from Vietnam and China starting last year, CBC News has reported.

Higher increase than expected

Economists had been expecting the rate to increase from a 30-year high of 6.8 per cent in April, but the numbers for May blew past those expectations. Prices increased by 1.4 per cent in the month of May alone. Seasonally adjusted, that makes May 2022 the biggest one-month jump in the inflation rate in 30 years.

“If you aren’t over 40, you have never lived through inflation like this, and unfortunately, we are not expecting much of a reprieve going forward,” TD Bank economist Leslie Preston said. “Inflation is expected to remain elevated through 2022.”

The inflation rate rose in every province, from a low of seven per cent in Saskatchewan, to an eye-watering 11.1 per cent in Prince Edward Island.

Bonnie Caldarozzi recently raised prices at the courier service she runs outside Halifax, to cover the increase in gasoline costs. (Steve Lawrence/CBC)

Atlantic Canada is seeing some of the highest inflation in the country right now, and Bonnie Caldarozzi, who runs All Points Courier service in Dartmouth, N.S., says it’s hard to stay on top of rising costs.

“I’m the same as just about everybody in the country, but running a courier company, it hits us particularly hard,” she told CBC News in an interview on Wednesday. For her, the biggest problem of late is the price of gas, which makes it “very difficult to manage a small business with transportation as your main core business.”

She recently raised her prices across the board to cover fuel costs, because customers said they’d prefer that to a temporary fuel charge that could fluctuate.

“We’re trying to reach some kind of balance between our margins and keeping our clients margins good, too.”

The price of food purchased at grocery stores has risen by 9.7 per cent in the past year, Statistics Canada says. (Ivanoh Demers/Radio-Canada)

Consumers are feeling the pinch. Laura-Marie Paynter, a single mother from Toronto, recently got a second job to bring in some extra income for herself and her teenage daughter, but she’s discovered that getting a second job has actually added to her costs in the form of having to pay more for transportation, and having to order food because she’s not at home to cook as much.

“It’s frustrating that I have to take time away from my home and my child in order to keep things in our fridge and a roof over our head,” she told the CBC in an interview.

Canada is not the only country dealing with inflation at its highest level in decades. In the U.S., the inflation rate tops eight per cent right now, and new data out of the U.K. shows the cost of living rising at a nine per cent annual clip.

While Canada’s inflation rate is going up swiftly any way you slice it, Statistics Canada made some changes recently to how it tabulates the numbers, giving increased weight to things like shelter, and adding the cost of new and used vehicles to its official index for the first time.

By the data agency’s calculations, the cost of purchasing a passenger vehicle increased by 6.8 per cent in the past year. While that’s lower than the overall inflation rate, it was nonetheless one of the major factors contributing to the higher overall increase, Statistics Canada said.

Bank of Canada now more likely to hike lending rates

The higher-than-expected inflation figure makes it all but certain that the Bank of Canada will raise its benchmark interest rate by three quarters of a percentage point at its next policy meeting in July, in an attempt to rein in runaway price increases.

The central bank slashed its lending rate to 0.25 per cent early in 2020 to stimulate the economy through the pandemic, but in recent months, it has moved aggressively to hike rates. Another 75-point hike would bring the bank’s key lending rate to 2.25 per cent, the highest it has been since the financial crisis in 2008.

While higher borrowing costs are likely to bring down inflation over time, the impact is unlikely to be swift, economist Kiefer Van Mulligen with the Canadian Chamber of Commerce said, which is why consumers and policymakers should brace for high prices to stick around.

“Interest rates began to increase in March, but monetary policy does not work overnight,” he said. “Higher interest rates can’t do much to solve some of the more critical causes of current inflation, such as supply chain problems.”

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Former world title contender Troy Amos-Ross headed to Boxing Canada Hall of Fame

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November 5, 2024

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Twelve years after his last fight, former world title contender Troy (The Boss) Amos-Ross is headed to the Boxing Canada Hall of Fame.

Egerton Marcus, his cousin and 1988 Olympic silver medallist as a middleweight, is also being inducted.

Other inductees are Olympians Jamie Pagendam, Raymond (Sugar Ray) Downey, Howard Grant and Domenic (Hollywood) Filane, former amateur world champion Jennifer Ogg and former Olympic boxing coach Colin MacPhail.

“It’s incredible,” said the 49-year-old Amos-Ross, a former Canadian and Commonwealth cruiserweight champion. “I’m very happy to be part of that elite group.”

The induction class will be honoured Nov. 24 in Sarnia, Ont., during the Canadian amateur boxing championships.

Amos-Ross is already in the Ontario Boxing Hall of Fame and Brampton Sports Hall of Fame.

Born in Georgetown, Guyana, in 1975, Amos-Ross moved to Canada with his family in 1982. He was taught to box by his father Charles Ross, a former Guyana Olympian, and joined the Bramalea Boxing Club in 1986.

Amos-Ross competed for Canada as a light-heavyweight in both the 1996 and 2000 Olympics.

He finished sixth in ’96 in Atlanta, recording two wins before losing to eventual gold medallist Vassiliy Jirov of Kazakhstan in the quarterfinals. Four years later in Sydney, he was stopped by Nigeria’s Jegbefumere Albert in the round of 16.

He won bronze as a light-heavyweight at the 1999 Pan Am Games in Winnipeg.

Turning pro, he won 23 of his first 24 fights before losing to American Steve Cunningham in a fight for the vacant IBF world cruiserweight title in Neubrandenburg, Germany. Amos-Ross lost by fifth-round technical knockout when the doctor stepped in because of a cut round the Canadian’s eye.

Amos-Ross won two more fights before ending his career in a September 2012 loss to IBF cruiserweight champion Yoan Pablo Hernández in Bamberg, Germany. The German-based Cuban was awarded a 114-113, 115-112, 116-112 decision that drew derisive whistles from the crowd.

“I pretty much pumped the floor with him today,” Amos-Ross said at the time. “I know I won the fight because I put all my hard work into it. I’m too strong, too fast. I’m just a better boxer today … it’s a bad decision.”

In 2005 he won the Canadian cruiserweight title and, in 2007, the Commonwealth championship. In 2009, Amos-Ross also was the last man standing in Season 4 of the “The Contender,” an American TV series featuring 16 cruiserweights.

Amos-Ross retired with a 25-3-0 record (the other loss was a 2005 split-decision to American Willie Herring).

He remains active in the sport today, training former world champion Jean Pascal and Triston Brookes, who takes on Uruguayan Nestor Faccio on Saturday in Hamilton.

Amos-Ross also coaches amateur fighters at the Bramalea Boxing Club, working with his brother Shawn Amos-Ross to help Simran Takhar, Abdullah Ayub and Aayan Ahmad Khokhar to gold and Ibna Sharma to silver at last month’s Golden Gloves Provincial Championships in Windsor, Ont.

Amos-Ross is working on putting on training camps for kids aged 12 and over as far afield as South Africa and Hawaii.

“For me, it’s about giving back and also sharing the knowledge of boxing and sport,” he said.

“It’s to help them with physical education, get their body healthy,” he added. “A strong heart leads to a strong mind.”

Amos-Ross has always had more than a few strings to his bow.

He studied fashion design at George Brown College and had his own clothing company, Ross Wear, for a while.

He also acted in several movies, playing opposite Russell Crowe in “Cinderella Man” in 2005, “Resurrecting The Champ” in 2007, and portrayed Floyd Patterson in “Phantom Punch” in 2008 with Josh Hartnett and Samuel L. Jackson.

When not helping others excel in the ring, the father of two runs Mount Pleasant Montessori School in Brampton, a childcare centre for some 100 kids up to the age of six. Amos-Ross and his then-wife Alison McLean opened the facility in 2014 and still work together.

—

Follow @NeilMDavidson on X platform, formerly known as Twitter

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 5, 2024.



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Penn State police investigate cellphone incident involving Jason Kelce and a fan

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November 5, 2024

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Penn State University police are investigating an altercation between retired Philadelphia Eagles center Jason Kelce and a fan over a cellphone that occurred over the weekend before the game between the Nittany Lions and Ohio State.

The police department’s incident log includes an entry registered Saturday in which an “officer observed a visitor damaging personal property.”

PSU public information officer Jacqueline Sheader confirmed to The Associated Press on Tuesday that the incident involved Kelce and said that the process is ongoing. The report listed the potential offenses as criminal mischief and disorderly conduct.

Video on social media showed Kelce walking through a crowd near Beaver Stadium and fans asking for photos and fist bumps when one fan began to heckle Kelce and appeared to shout an anti-gay slur about his brother, Kansas City Chiefs tight end Travis Kelce, for dating pop star Taylor Swift.

At that point, video showed Kelce grabbing the fan’s phone and throwing it to the ground, then turning to confront the man dressed in Penn State attire. Kelce appeared to use the same anti-gay slur during the exchange before another fan stepped between them before the altercation could escalate.

Kelce apologized during ESPN’s pregame show Monday night.

“In a heated moment, I decided to greet hate with hate,” Kelce said before ESPN’s broadcast of the Buccaneers-Chiefs game. “I fell short this week.”

Kelce added he’s “not proud” of the interaction with the fan, saying he “fell down to a level that I shouldn’t have.”

___

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A TV as big as a bed? With the holidays approaching, stores stock more supersize sets

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November 5, 2024

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NEW YORK (AP) — For some television viewers, size apparently does matter.

Forget the 65-inch TVs that were considered bigger than average a decade ago. In time for the holidays, manufacturers and retailers are rolling out more XXL screens measuring more than 8 feet diagonally. That’s wider than a standard three-seat sofa or a king-size bed.

Supersize televisions only accounted for 1.7% of revenue from all TV set sales in the U.S. during the first nine months of the year, according to market research firm Circana. But companies preparing for shoppers to go big for Christmas, Hanukkah and Kwanzaa have reason to think the growing ultra category will be a bright spot in an otherwise tepid television market, according to analysts.

The 38,100 televisions of at least 97 inches sold between January and September represented a tenfold increase from the same period last year, Circana said. Best Buy, the nation’s largest consumer electronics chain, doubled the assortment of hefty TVs — the 19 models range in price from $2,000 to $25,000 — and introduced displays in roughly 70% of its stores.

“It’s really taken off this year,” Blake Hampton, Best Buy’s senior vice president of merchandising, said.

Analysts credit the emerging demand to improved technology and much lower prices. So far this year, the average price for TVs spanning at least 97 inches was $3,113 compared to $6,662 last year, according to Circana. South Korean electronics manufacturer Samsung introduced its first 98-inch TV in 2019 with a hefty price tag of $99,000; it now has four versions starting at $4,000, the company said.

Anthony Ash, a 42-year-old owner of a wood pallet and recycling business, recently bought a 98-inch Sony for his 14,000-square-foot house in Bristol, Wisconsin. The device, which cost about $5,000 excluding installation fees, replaced an 85-inch TV in the great room off his kitchen. Ash now has 17 televisions at home and uses some to display digital art.

“We just saw that the price was affordable for what we were looking for and thought, ‘Why not?’” he said of deciding to upsize to the Sony. “You get a better TV experience with a bigger TV. You’re sitting watching TV with a person on TV that is the same size as you. You can put yourself in the scene.”

The amount of time that many people spend staring at their cellphones and tablets, including to stream movies and TV shows, is another factor driving the growth of widescreen TV screens. Overall TV sales revenue fell 4%, while the number of units sold rose 1% from the January through September period, Circana said.

Most people only invest in a television every seven years, but when they do, they typically choose bigger ones, according to Rick Kowalski, the senior director of business intelligence at the Consumer Technology Association. In the past 15 years, the size of flat-panel TVs that were shipped to U.S. retailers and dealers grew an average of one inch a year, Kowalski said.

The coronavirus pandemic accelerated the elongation trend as people spent more time at home. In fact, screen sizes increased an average of two inches in both 2021 and 2022, and 85-inch TVs began gaining traction with consumers, Kowalski said. Shipments of 98-inch TVs to the U.S. are picking up pace this year, and models as huge as 110-115 inches are on the market right now, he said.

“You get better resolution over time,” Kowalski said. “You get better picture quality. And so just over time, it’s easier to produce those sets and improve the technology.”

Best Buy’s Hampton said a benefit of a colossal TV is the viewer can watch multiple shows at once, an experience he described as “incredible.”

“If you’re watching YouTube TV content or ‘ NFL Sunday Ticket,’ you can actually get four screens up, and that’s four 48-inch screens on it,” he said.

Manufacturers are also adding new features. Samsung said it designed its 98-inch lineup with a component that analyzes what the viewer is watching to increase sharpness and reduce visible noise across every scene.

James Fishler, senior vice president of the home entertainment division of Samsung’s U.S. division, said the way people watch TV and experience content is shifting.

“It’s even more so about watching TV as a shared experience,” Fishler said. “They want to host a watch party and gather around their TV to watch the big game, or set up a cinematic movie experience right at home. ”

Walmart, the nation’s largest retailer, its Sam’s Club division, and Chicago retailer Abt Electronics, also say they are expanding their TV ranges to meet customer demand for supersize screens.

TV industry experts say these monster TVs are beginning to encroach on home theater projectors, which create a 100- to 120-inch image that is less sharp and require rooms with blackout curtains or without windows.

“A dedicated viewing room for watching movies was exclusively the purview of projectors,” Andrew Sivori, vice president in the entertainment division of LG Electronics, another Korean manufacturer. “But you can get a much better viewing experience with direct TV.”

Retailers and TV makers said the buyers trading up range from millennials and members of Generation X to the tech-native Gen Z crowd. But as Jon Abt, co-president of Abt Electronics said, “It’s still a niche business.”

“A lot of people just don’t have the space to put one of those in,” he added.

Before dreaming big for the holidays, shoppers therefore should make sure a 98-inch TV will fit. Best Buy said its Geek Squad team asks if stairwells and entry halls are large enough to accommodate delivery and installation. An augmented reality feature on the Best Buy app that allows customers to see if products are the right size has been especially helpful for XXL TVs, the retailer said.

But for those worried about having the space for viewing, the good news is that the recommended distance for a 98-inch TV is actually just 6-12 feet from the seating area. The rule of thumb is to multiple the diagonal length of the TV by 1.2 to determine the ideal viewing distance, Samsung’s Fishler said.

If bigger is better in the TV department, how big can they go?

“I think we’ll have to wait and see,” Fishler said.

___

This story was first published on Nov. 3, 2024. It was updated on Nov. 5, 2024 to correct that TV sizes are measured on the diagonal, not by width.



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