Another nickel and a half increase greeted motorists at gas stations in Nova Scotia Friday morning.
“I’m not going to make it take more than it does,” said Mike Green while pumping gas.
His fill-up almost reached $200.
It’s a pain not just being felt at the pumps.
“The price of everything is going up, people don’t have enough money to pay for everything,” Green says.
In April, inflation hit 7.1 per cent in Nova Scotia, well above the Bank of Canada’s preferred rate of one to three per cent.
That’s why the central bank is increasing interest rates, but the effect will not be seen right away.
“There’s a lag effect, so even though you increase interest rates right now we don’t really see the impact of those higher interest rates for 18 to 24 months,” says Fred Bergman of the Atlantic Provinces Economic Council.
“This is why we’re likely to see inflation for another year or two."
That means charities like Feed Nova Scotia are expecting demand for food assistance to continue to increase.
“This past March, we supported over 18,000 individual Nova Scotians through the food banks that we provide food too,” says Feed N.S. president Nick Jennery.
But the province has made it clear that there's no upping relief right away and certainly no cutting of gas taxes.
“We know that Nova Scotians are struggling and we'll continue to have discussions about what is possible,” Premier Tim Houston said Thursday.
Liberal finance critic Kelly Regan says discussions aren’t helpful because people can’t wait.
“People are hurting now. This government needs to act now. Nova Scotia is in of need help now, and if they are a good government and if they are a compassionate government they will do something now, and not wait,” Regan says.
Feed Nova Scotia is sending out 20,000 pounds of food a day. To meet the demand, they now have to buy what they don’t have.
