SAM
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The Labour Day holiday weekend in Canada is an end-of-summer rite for Canadian workers to reflect on their achievements of their toil and for their families and friends to come together to discuss what to expect with the resumption of a daily routine. For many Canadians this weekend the discussions around a campfire or on a cottage dock will likely be more of a lament for life’s daily challenges in Canada’s “new normal.” From taxes, to food inflation, to a growing debt load, there is much, too much for Canadians to consider.
Consider taxes
The Fraser Institute released their annual study recently about Canadians’ tax burden and it factored that the average Canadian family spent 42 per cent of income on taxes – more than what is spent on housing, food, and clothing combined. Canadians pay more to their governments than the necessities of life. In 2025, the average Canadian family earned an income of $121,111 and paid total taxes equaling $50,721.
The Fraser Institute also stated that, through six decades, taxes have “grown much more rapidly than any other single expenditure for the average Canadian family.” Since 1961, the average family had an income of $5,000 and paid a total tax bill of $1,675, which is only 33.5 per cent.
Jake Fuss of the Institute stated, “At a time when the cost of living is top of mind across the country, taxes remain the largest household expense for Canadian families. While Canadians can decide for themselves whether or not they get good value for their tax dollars, they should understand how much they pay in taxes each year and how much the tax burden has grown relative to other necessary costs they must pay.”
In another recently published Fraser Institute study, it was factored that, in 2026 in Canada, the top 20 per cent of income-earning families will pay 65.3 per cent of all personal income taxes collected, and they pay 58.3 per cent of total taxes collected (income taxes, sales taxes, property taxes, etc.) by all three levels of government. To put it another way, for those Canadian top-earning families, every dollar they earn, they are allowed to keep 35 cents of it.
On a related note, the PM was recently commenting on the federal government’s spending and the need for it to incur larger-than-forecasted deficits to pay for Canada’s trade “war” with the U.S., and Mark Carney said, “In terms of measures on tax and others, we are constantly looking at our tax system, how we can make it as fair as possible, shift the burden to those who are most able to pay and in a way that incentivizes investment and entrepreneurship, right?” Is it possible the PM is hinting at new taxes to pay for new government expenditures and its increasing debt load? (Fact: every taxpayer will pay $3,348 this year just to cover interest payments on the federal and provincial debt.) Ottawa circles are reviewing new sources of taxation for those “most able to pay”: home equity tax, capital gains on a sale of a house, or calculated on unrealized investment gains, or a wealth tax.
In reflecting on Canadians’ increasing tax burden, the provocative quip from economist Thomas Sowell comes to mind: “What is your fair share of what someone else has worked for?”
Consider rising food costs
As grocery prices continue to escalate and food bank usage rise to unprecedented levels in Canada, the federal government provided relief this summer by way of a New Groceries and Essential Benefits cheque that replaces the old GST credit cheques – so, a quarterly handout that will total more than $110 per month for a family of four.
This “relief” is to help where Canadians suffer from some of the greatest food inflation in the G-7 nations. This summer Statistics Canada reported food inflation of more than four per cent, outpacing general inflation. Vegetables are up nine per cent – the price of grapes are up 23 per cent in a year, and tomatoes are up 45 per cent!
For most Canadians, the rise in food prices is shocking. CTV News did a piece on a Halifax shopping excursion where $100 bought “barely enough to fill two small grocery bags” with breakfast cereal, berries, pasta, bananas and bread – no meat. On the subject of meat, the Dalhousie University’s Agri-Food Analytics Lab reported in late July that meat and fish prices are increasing at incredible rates this summer – bacon (28 per cent), salmon (25 per cent) and pork (24 per cent).
It is now eighteen months and counting that food inflation is higher than the government’s stated monthly rate of inflation. In the month of September, Canadians will need to brace for even higher grocery prices as the impact of Canada’s retaliatory $27.5 billion worth of counter-tariffs on U.S. selected foods and goods will kick in – which has the potential of raising the cost of tariffed foods by as much as an additional 6 per cent. Sylvain Charlebois, director of the Agri-Food Analytics Lab and co-host of The Food Professor Podcast, explains the pain to Canadian consumers in this Toronto Sun article: “Ottawa cuts taxes at the pump, then adds them to the grocery bill
For most Canadians, the rise in food prices is shocking. CTV News did a piece on a Halifax shopping excursion where $100 bought “barely enough to fill two small grocery bags” with breakfast cereal, berries, pasta, bananas and bread – no meat. On the subject of meat, the Dalhousie University’s Agri-Food Analytics Lab reported in late July that meat and fish prices are increasing at incredible rates this summer – bacon (28 per cent), salmon (25 per cent) and pork (24 per cent).
It is now eighteen months and counting that food inflation is higher than the government’s stated monthly rate of inflation. In the month of September, Canadians will need to brace for even higher grocery prices as the impact of Canada’s retaliatory $27.5 billion worth of counter-tariffs on U.S. selected foods and goods will kick in – which has the potential of raising the cost of tariffed foods by as much as an additional 6 per cent. Sylvain Charlebois, director of the Agri-Food Analytics Lab and co-host of The Food Professor Podcast, explains the pain to Canadian consumers in this Toronto Sun article: “Ottawa cuts taxes at the pump, then adds them to the grocery bill
Consider employment
The C.D. Howe Institute combed through available international data to report that Canada ranks near the bottom for income growth in the OECD and G7 nations. For the past two decades, Canadians’ income has grown slower than other advanced countries, and in the past decade Canada ranked dead last in the G7, and 32nd out of the 35 OECD countries. The Institute’s study attributes the country’s poor income growth data to “weaker purchasing power and slower improvements in Canadians’ standard of living.”
Consider taxes
The Fraser Institute released their annual study recently about Canadians’ tax burden and it factored that the average Canadian family spent 42 per cent of income on taxes – more than what is spent on housing, food, and clothing combined. Canadians pay more to their governments than the necessities of life. In 2025, the average Canadian family earned an income of $121,111 and paid total taxes equaling $50,721.
The Fraser Institute also stated that, through six decades, taxes have “grown much more rapidly than any other single expenditure for the average Canadian family.” Since 1961, the average family had an income of $5,000 and paid a total tax bill of $1,675, which is only 33.5 per cent.
Jake Fuss of the Institute stated, “At a time when the cost of living is top of mind across the country, taxes remain the largest household expense for Canadian families. While Canadians can decide for themselves whether or not they get good value for their tax dollars, they should understand how much they pay in taxes each year and how much the tax burden has grown relative to other necessary costs they must pay.”
In another recently published Fraser Institute study, it was factored that, in 2026 in Canada, the top 20 per cent of income-earning families will pay 65.3 per cent of all personal income taxes collected, and they pay 58.3 per cent of total taxes collected (income taxes, sales taxes, property taxes, etc.) by all three levels of government. To put it another way, for those Canadian top-earning families, every dollar they earn, they are allowed to keep 35 cents of it.
On a related note, the PM was recently commenting on the federal government’s spending and the need for it to incur larger-than-forecasted deficits to pay for Canada’s trade “war” with the U.S., and Mark Carney said, “In terms of measures on tax and others, we are constantly looking at our tax system, how we can make it as fair as possible, shift the burden to those who are most able to pay and in a way that incentivizes investment and entrepreneurship, right?” Is it possible the PM is hinting at new taxes to pay for new government expenditures and its increasing debt load? (Fact: every taxpayer will pay $3,348 this year just to cover interest payments on the federal and provincial debt.) Ottawa circles are reviewing new sources of taxation for those “most able to pay”: home equity tax, capital gains on a sale of a house, or calculated on unrealized investment gains, or a wealth tax.
In reflecting on Canadians’ increasing tax burden, the provocative quip from economist Thomas Sowell comes to mind: “What is your fair share of what someone else has worked for?”
Consider rising food costs
As grocery prices continue to escalate and food bank usage rise to unprecedented levels in Canada, the federal government provided relief this summer by way of a New Groceries and Essential Benefits cheque that replaces the old GST credit cheques – so, a quarterly handout that will total more than $110 per month for a family of four.
This “relief” is to help where Canadians suffer from some of the greatest food inflation in the G-7 nations. This summer Statistics Canada reported food inflation of more than four per cent, outpacing general inflation. Vegetables are up nine per cent – the price of grapes are up 23 per cent in a year, and tomatoes are up 45 per cent!
For most Canadians, the rise in food prices is shocking. CTV News did a piece on a Halifax shopping excursion where $100 bought “barely enough to fill two small grocery bags” with breakfast cereal, berries, pasta, bananas and bread – no meat. On the subject of meat, the Dalhousie University’s Agri-Food Analytics Lab reported in late July that meat and fish prices are increasing at incredible rates this summer – bacon (28 per cent), salmon (25 per cent) and pork (24 per cent).
It is now eighteen months and counting that food inflation is higher than the government’s stated monthly rate of inflation. In the month of September, Canadians will need to brace for even higher grocery prices as the impact of Canada’s retaliatory $27.5 billion worth of counter-tariffs on U.S. selected foods and goods will kick in – which has the potential of raising the cost of tariffed foods by as much as an additional 6 per cent. Sylvain Charlebois, director of the Agri-Food Analytics Lab and co-host of The Food Professor Podcast, explains the pain to Canadian consumers in this Toronto Sun article: “Ottawa cuts taxes at the pump, then adds them to the grocery bill
For most Canadians, the rise in food prices is shocking. CTV News did a piece on a Halifax shopping excursion where $100 bought “barely enough to fill two small grocery bags” with breakfast cereal, berries, pasta, bananas and bread – no meat. On the subject of meat, the Dalhousie University’s Agri-Food Analytics Lab reported in late July that meat and fish prices are increasing at incredible rates this summer – bacon (28 per cent), salmon (25 per cent) and pork (24 per cent).
It is now eighteen months and counting that food inflation is higher than the government’s stated monthly rate of inflation. In the month of September, Canadians will need to brace for even higher grocery prices as the impact of Canada’s retaliatory $27.5 billion worth of counter-tariffs on U.S. selected foods and goods will kick in – which has the potential of raising the cost of tariffed foods by as much as an additional 6 per cent. Sylvain Charlebois, director of the Agri-Food Analytics Lab and co-host of The Food Professor Podcast, explains the pain to Canadian consumers in this Toronto Sun article: “Ottawa cuts taxes at the pump, then adds them to the grocery bill
Consider employment
The C.D. Howe Institute combed through available international data to report that Canada ranks near the bottom for income growth in the OECD and G7 nations. For the past two decades, Canadians’ income has grown slower than other advanced countries, and in the past decade Canada ranked dead last in the G7, and 32nd out of the 35 OECD countries. The Institute’s study attributes the country’s poor income growth data to “weaker purchasing power and slower improvements in Canadians’ standard of living.”
Edit Reason: by Chris George from By George Journal on Substack
