Last year certainly had its ups and downs—namely, rising prices and decreased job prospects for the unemployed. Financial memories from 2025 may well impact Canadian household budgets in 2026, but it’s not all doom and gloom.
Some costs surprisingly went down last year, according to the Canadian Consumer Price Index, while others had people digging deeper into their pockets to stay afloat.
Grocery shoppers were among last year’s biggest losers, with rising food prices pressuring everyone to tighten their belts—a reality that doesn’t appear poised to change.
According to some experts, the reasons for price hikes range from unfavorable weather conditions affecting agriculture to U.S. tariff-related cost increases and labor shortages brought on by shifting immigration policies.
Not all food items have been equally hit, however. Beef, coffee, nuts, fruit juices and chocolate have substantially risen, as have alcohol and tobacco products. On the other hand, butter, margarine, wheat flour, olive oil and some berries have dropped below their January 2025 price levels (based on November figures).
Statistics Canada reports that clothing and footwear costs went up just under 4% between January and November of last year.
Speaking to the BBC, Andrew Barclay, an analyst for the agency, attributes the jump to trade war tensions between the U.S. and certain Asian countries that have become major clothing manufacturing hubs.
In fact, some Chinese manufacturers and influencers went viral on social media last year after claiming that many luxury items are actually made in China and sold abroad at an incredibly high markup.
It’s not entirely clear which high-end brands the claim applies to. What is clear is that international economic and political conflicts can place an invisible tax on luxury goods, which predictably affects items from China, the world’s leading textile exporter (based on 2023 data), as well as Bangladesh, Vietnam, Turkey, India and other key exporters.
It remains to be seen how the fashion industry will fare as the trade war continues to play out. In the meantime, you can save money by maximizing the lifespan of your wardrobe as much as possible.
Canadian consumers may be losing at the grocery stores and malls, but they’re winning on the road. Gas, energy and transportation were the only cost categories that had declined by late 2025.
Gas prices decreased at an especially steep rate (-10.73%) between January and November 2025. Oversupply and the elimination of the Canadian federal carbon tax in April are behind the change, according to some analysts.
Seasonal factors also contribute to lower prices, as many people cut down on discretionary travel during cold months. Plus, gas is less expensive to produce in the winter than in the summer. This is because it contains more butane, which is relatively cheap and makes fuel ignite more easily in low temperatures.
American gas prices have also gone down significantly over the past year. Among the reasons for this are oversupply and economic pessimism in the first half of 2025, which reduced demand for crude oil.
Here’s to hoping the trend towards affordability at the pump carries over into even more cost categories this year.
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