Economy and Inflation in Canada: How the Country Weathered the Storm (2019-2024)

There’s a funny thing, no, scratch that, it’s not funny, it’s irritating, that happens when you’re in Canada and you call your family back in Brazil.

You mention your salary in Canadian dollars and your family is impressed. “My God, you make a lot!” But then you start listing what you pay: rent, groceries, transit, health coverage, internet… and by the time you finish adding it up, your family goes quiet. Because you can tell that what looked like a lot once converted to reais is, in fact, just what a simple life here requires.

That is Canadian inflation in its most concrete form: it eats away at what looks abundant in reais but is tight in Canadian dollars.

From 2019 to 2024, inflation in Canada went through extreme cycles: from near-zero deflation during the pandemic to a peak of 8.1% a year in June 2022, the highest level since 1983. In this post, I’ll walk you through what happened, why it happened, and what it means for anyone living here or wanting to.

What is the CPI and why does it matter?

The Consumer Price Index (CPI) is the main thermometer of inflation in Canada. Calculated monthly by Statistics Canada, it measures the price change of a basket of goods and services that a typical family consumes: food, housing, transportation, health, clothing, recreation, and education.

When the CPI rises 6.8% in a year (as it did in 2022), it means that basket that cost CAD 1,000 now costs CAD 1,068. It sounds small when you write it that way. In practice, it’s dozens of extra dollars a week at the grocery store, more than a hundred more per month in rent, and a growing impact on every bill.

For Brazilian immigrants, that number has an extra layer: you’re comparing your cost of living here with the cost of living in Brazil, using the exchange rate as a reference. When inflation rises in Canada AND the real loses value in Brazil (as happened simultaneously in several periods), the effect compounds: everything gets more expensive both in Canadian dollars and in reais.

2019: The baseline, normal inflation, a livable life

In 2019, the Canadian CPI grew 1.9% over the previous year. It was the kind of inflation the Bank of Canada targets: close to 2%, controlled, predictable. The economy was running well, unemployment at 5.7%, wages growing modestly, GDP expanding at a solid pace.

For an immigrant arriving in 2019, the economic environment was relatively favourable. It wasn’t easy, it’s never easy to start from scratch in a new country, but the fundamentals were stable.

I used to tell friends who were considering coming to Canada back then: “It’s hard. It’s expensive. But it’s fair. What you work for, you can convert into quality of life within a reasonable amount of time.”

That sentence got harder to say after 2022.

2020: The pandemic knocked inflation down (and almost everything else)

COVID-19 reached Canada in March 2020 and the economy seized up almost overnight.

Canada’s real GDP contracted roughly 5.2% in 2020, the biggest drop since World War II. Unemployment shot up to 9.7% on average for the year, with the peak in May 2020 reaching 13.7%. Entire sectors, tourism, hospitality, retail, aviation, came to a halt.

The CPI in 2020 came in at just 0.7%. Gasoline went negative for a stretch. Food rose a little, but deflation in other sectors offset it. It was artificially low inflation caused by a collapse in demand.

The Canadian government responded with one of the largest stimulus operations in the country’s history: the CERB (Canada Emergency Response Benefit) injected CAD 2,000 a month into the accounts of millions of affected workers. Banks offered mortgage deferrals. The Bank of Canada cut the rate to 0.25% and bought billions in government bonds.

From a human standpoint, the CERB was real relief. I know Brazilians who stabilized financially during the pandemic because they received the benefit and used it to save, pay off debt, and prepare better for what was coming.

But from a macroeconomic standpoint, all that stimulus was being injected into an economy that had nowhere to spend. It was inflationary pressure building up behind the scenes.

2021: The return of inflation, slow at first, alarming by the end

With vaccination advancing and restrictions being lifted throughout 2021, pent-up demand exploded. People who had spent a year at home wanted to spend, travel, consume. But the global supply chain was still in tatters: congested ports, factories closed in Asia, a shortage of containers, a scarcity of electronic chips.

The result was the classic “too much money chasing too few goods” scenario: demand inflation combined with supply inflation.

The 2021 CPI closed at 3.4%, already above the Bank of Canada’s 2% target. It seemed manageable. The Bank of Canada, like central banks around the world, declared that inflation was “transitory,” the product of temporary imbalances that would resolve themselves once supply chains normalized.

They were wrong.

2022: The 8.1% peak, the highest inflation in 40 years

In 2022, Canadian inflation became the country’s biggest topic of conversation.

The average annual CPI for 2022 was 6.8%, but that number hides the peak that happened in June 2022: 8.1% a year, the highest since 1983. Forty years without seeing inflation like this.

What rose the most?

Fuel and energy were the leaders, gasoline rose more than 50% over the trailing 12 months in some months of 2022, driven by Russia’s war in Ukraine and the post-pandemic recovery of global oil demand.

Food was the second big villain, grocery store prices rose more than 9% in 2022. Here in Canada this phenomenon got a name: “shrinkflation,” when companies don’t raise the price as much but shrink the packaging instead. A box of cereal that used to have 500g now has 450g for the same price. Subtle, irritating, and real.

Housing was the third component, both rent inflation and the cost of interest on variable mortgages started climbing steeply.

Source: Statistics Canada, Table 18-10-0004-01. Component data are estimates based on the main CPI categories.

For Brazilians living in Canada in 2022, that was the toughest year economically. Wages, in most cases, didn’t rise in the same proportion. What happened in practice was a real drop in purchasing power, you earned more dollars nominally but bought less with them.

I saw friends drastically cut back on going out to restaurants, cancel subscriptions, shop the sales with an obsession they hadn’t had before. It wasn’t poverty. It was adapting to a new inflationary reality that Canada hadn’t lived through in generations.

Why did Canada’s GDP stagnate in 2023-2024?

Gross Domestic Product (GDP) measures the total goods and services produced in the economy. In 2020, it fell nearly 5.2%, the sharpest contraction in decades. In 2021, it rose about 5.0%, a technical recovery that looked promising.

But starting in 2022 and especially in 2023, GDP growth slowed significantly. The main reason: the high interest rates the Bank of Canada implemented to fight inflation choked off credit and investment. Companies delayed projects. Consumers cut spending.

Canada avoided a technical recession (two consecutive quarters of negative growth) by a narrow margin, but the feeling on the street was one of stagnation.

In 2024, Canada’s GDP per capita was in negative territory, growing slower than the population. That means that on average, each Canadian was producing (and potentially earning) less in real terms than before. It’s a figure that rarely makes the headlines, but it captures well the “why is it so hard?” feeling a lot of people were having.

2023-2024: The disinflation, the road back to normal

The good news is that the Bank of Canada got the timing right, even if late. The series of rate hikes, from 0.25% to 5.00% between March 2022 and July 2023, eventually tamed inflation.

In 2023, the average CPI fell to 3.9%. In 2024, it fell to 2.4%. In February 2026, the most recent figure confirmed in the federal government data pipeline is 1.8%, below the Bank of Canada’s 2% target.

That is a real economic victory. Inflation returned to normal levels without Canada having to go through a deep recession.

But there’s an important asterisk: the housing component of the CPI is still elevated. Even with overall inflation at 1.8%, housing costs keep rising above average because the structural housing deficit hasn’t been solved, only the credit demand pressure was temporarily reduced.

For immigrants, this translates to: you’ll feel that your life got less expensive in gasoline and food, but rent will still hurt.

What does this mean for your wallet?

I’ll translate these numbers into the practical reality of anyone living or about to live in Canada.

The effect of accumulated inflation is permanent. When inflation falls from 6.8% to 2.4%, prices don’t return to 2021 levels. They grow more slowly from the higher level. A grocery basket that cost CAD 200 in 2020 and went to CAD 240 in 2022 won’t go back to CAD 200 when inflation normalizes, it will cost CAD 250 in 2024, growing more slowly.

Real wages improved but didn’t recover everything. Between 2022 and 2024, many sectors negotiated wage increases above inflation, especially public services and health. But workers in less organized sectors, including many recently arrived immigrants in entry-level jobs, lost real purchasing power that wasn’t fully recovered.

The cost of living in Canada varied a lot by city. Vancouver and Toronto remain the most expensive cities in the G7 in terms of the wage-to-housing-cost ratio. Calgary, Edmonton, and smaller cities in Ontario and Quebec offer a better balance. That’s a consideration worth weighing for any Brazilian immigrant when choosing where to settle.

The outlook for 2026 is better. With inflation at 1.8%, rates falling (2.25% in April 2026), and a reasonably stable labour market, today’s economic environment is significantly more favourable than that of 2022. It isn’t easy, it never was, but the books balance again with less effort.

The Canadian family budget: how to make the books balance

One thing I discovered in Canada is that budget planning here demands a more systematic approach than most Brazilians are used to.

In Brazil, many middle-class families manage their finances relatively intuitively, rough control, adjustments when needed. It works when the cost of living is lower relative to disposable income.

In Canada, especially in Vancouver and Toronto, the margins are tighter. A budgeting mistake isn’t easily fixed with an adjustment the following month, because rent, bills, and commitments are more rigid.

The general rule many Canadian financial advisors use: housing should not consume more than 30% of gross income. That’s the historical threshold that defines whether housing is “affordable.” In Vancouver and Toronto, that threshold is widely exceeded by a huge share of the population.

For an immigrant arriving today, building a realistic view of the budget means:

Rent (1 person): CAD 1,800-2,400/month (a room in shared housing = CAD 900-1,400/month) Food: CAD 400-600/month (cooking at home, with planning) Transportation: CAD 100-150/month (public transit), CAD 400-700/month (car + insurance + gas) Communication: CAD 50-80/month (basic phone plan) Health: Covered by provincial health if employed, but dental/optical costs without a corporate plan: CAD 50-200/month Services (streaming, internet): CAD 80-120/month Clothing, leisure, miscellaneous: CAD 200-400/month

Estimated total for 1 person (shared housing): CAD 2,900-3,900/month

With a salary of CAD 3,000-3,500/month net (common for entry-level jobs), the books balance with little margin. With CAD 4,500-6,000/month net (an average salary after 2-3 years), life gets more comfortable.

The transition from “books barely balancing” to “building wealth” usually happens within the 2 to 4 year range for most Brazilians in Canada, and it’s accelerated by two factors: finding a job in your field, and moving from the apartment hunting phase to a stable long-term rental.

The tax system in Canada: what you need to know

The Canadian tax system is a topic that causes a lot of confusion, especially for Brazilians coming from an equally complex but completely different tax system.

Income: Federal + Provincial

In Canada, you pay federal income tax (CRA, Canada Revenue Agency) plus provincial tax. The rates are progressive and vary by income bracket.

In practical terms, the total effective rate (federal + provincial) for someone earning CAD 60,000/year in Ontario is around 24-27%. For CAD 80,000/year, around 28-32%. For CAD 120,000+, the marginal rates start to be significant.

That means: if the advertised gross salary is CAD 70,000/year, the monthly after-tax salary is approximately CAD 4,600-5,000.

The benefit of tax deductions and credits:

The Canadian system has many tax benefits that effectively reduce what you pay:

• RRSP contributions: each dollar contributed reduces your taxable income
• Childcare expenses: daycare expenses are deductible
• Medical expenses above a threshold: deductible
• Home office expenses (if you work from home)
• Tuition credits for education

For immigrants, the first-year filing (T1 Tax Return) can generate a refund if for part of the year you weren’t in Canada and paid tax on income earned before coming.

The fiscal year in Canada: January 1 to December 31. Filing deadline: April 30 of the following year (or June 15 for the self-employed). The CRA sends the Notice of Assessment after the filing, and the refund, if any, comes within weeks.

The first tax filing in Canada is intimidating. But there are free resources: the Community Volunteer Income Tax Program (CVITP) offers free tax preparation for people with modest income through trained volunteers, ask at your public library or settlement agency.

How much does it cost to get settled in the first 6 months in Canada?

The inflation and cost-of-living numbers I present in this post are important for understanding the Canadian economic environment. But there’s a dimension those numbers don’t capture: the initial setup cost, what you’ll spend between the day you arrive and the day you have a life running normally.

That initial phase is expensive in a way that doesn’t show up in the CPI. You’re buying everything at the same time.

The expenses nobody calculates before arriving:

Initial housing: The rental deposit in Canada is generally equivalent to one month’s rent (some provinces limit this). For a 1-bedroom apartment in Toronto or Vancouver, that’s CAD 2,000-3,000 just for the deposit, plus the first month. Minimum upfront total: CAD 4,000-6,000 just to have a place to live.

Basic furniture: Apartments in Canada are generally rented unfurnished. A bed, table, chairs, a basic sofa, and kitchen items (pots, cutlery, plates) can cost from CAD 1,000 to CAD 3,000 depending on where you buy, Kijiji and Marketplace have a lot of good used stuff, which helps.

Winter clothing: If you’re coming from Brazil, you don’t have winter clothes. A decent winter coat in Canada costs CAD 100-300. Snow boots: CAD 80-200. Gloves, scarf, hat: another CAD 50-100. This isn’t cosmetic, it’s survival. The first winter catches everyone by surprise.

Transportation at first: Until you have a credit card, a local phone plan, and an understanding of the transit system, there are unexpected mobility expenses. A monthly metro/bus pass in Toronto (Presto) is CAD 163. In Vancouver (Compass), CAD 109 for zone 1.

Phone and internet: A basic phone plan in Canada costs CAD 45-80/month (plans are expensive, Canada has one of the most expensive telecommunications markets in the world). Home internet: CAD 50-100/month depending on the package.

Food while settling into a routine: Until you figure out where to buy, what to cook, and how to make the shopping stretch, food spending is higher than normal.

A realistic estimate:

For a couple arriving in Canada as permanent residents, no children, no car, in a big city:

• Initial setup (deposit, first month, basic furniture, winter clothing): CAD 8,000-15,000
• Emergency reserve for the first 3-6 months (before a first stable job): CAD 10,000-18,000
• Recommended total on arrival: CAD 18,000-33,000

This isn’t to scare you. It’s to prepare you. Whoever arrives with that reserve has a much less stressful transition than someone who arrives counting on starting work in the first week.

What are TFSA and RRSP in the Canadian financial system?

One of the gifts Canada offers to those here legally is access to two of the most generous tax-advantaged savings systems in the world.

The RRSP (Registered Retirement Savings Plan) and the TFSA (Tax-Free Savings Account) are accounts registered by the federal government that offer significant tax benefits. Understanding them from the start is one of the most important things for anyone building a financial life here.

The TFSA in detail:

You can open a TFSA as soon as you have legal resident status and are 18 years old. Any money inside the TFSA, whether in a savings account, a GIC (the equivalent of Brazil’s CDB), investment funds, or stocks, grows without ever paying tax. Withdrawals are tax-free and don’t affect government benefits.

The annual contribution limit is set by the government (CAD 7,000 in 2024-2025). Cumulative limit since 2009: in 2025, if you’ve never contributed, you can put in up to CAD 95,000 at once. That contribution room isn’t lost, it accumulates indefinitely.

The RRSP in detail:

Each dollar contributed to the RRSP reduces your taxable income for the year. If you’re in the 30% marginal tax bracket and contribute CAD 10,000 to the RRSP, you save approximately CAD 3,000 in tax that year.

The contribution limit is 18% of the previous year’s income, up to a maximum of CAD 31,560 (2024). The room accumulates if unused.

Withdrawals are taxed as income, which is why the RRSP makes more sense for those in a high tax bracket now who expect to be in a lower bracket in retirement.

How inflation and interest rates affect these choices:

In periods of high interest rates, high-interest savings accounts (HISA) inside the TFSA offer 4-5% a year guaranteed by the CDIC (deposit protection equivalent to Brazil’s FGC). It’s one of the safest and most efficient ways to keep money in the short term.

In periods of lower interest rates (like 2026), you might consider longer-term GICs (1-2 years) or moderate-risk investments (fixed-income or balanced ETFs) to keep a positive real return.

The practical rule for those arriving:

1. Open a TFSA first. It’s more flexible, there’s no tax on withdrawal, and it’s the right place for the emergency reserve.
2. As soon as you have RRSP room (after the first fiscal year), consider contributing, especially if your income is in a tax bracket that makes the deduction benefit significant.
3. If you’re thinking about buying property, prioritize the FHSA above all.

You don’t need to start with large amounts, the habit matters more than the initial sum. Even CAD 200/month in the TFSA, over years, builds a significant tax-free reserve.

Did wages keep up with Canadian inflation from 2022-2024?

The labour market and wage data are analyzed in detail in Post 4 of the series. But it’s worth previewing the most relevant figure here:

In 2022, inflation of 6.8% outpaced average wage growth of approximately 4%, the result: a real drop in purchasing power. In 2023 and 2024, that trend reversed, wages began to grow above inflation again. The current average hourly wage is CAD 32.73/hour (January 2026, pipeline confirmed), a level that represents a real gain over 2022 when adjusted for accumulated inflation.

The question “was it worth coming to Canada financially?” has no simple answer in any year. But in 2026, with the economy stabilizing, the answer is closer to “yes, with patience” than it was in 2022.

Inflation and the real: the double effect

There’s something that affects Brazilian immigrants specifically that needs to be mentioned: the combination of inflation in Canada with the depreciation of the real in Brazil.

In 2022, at the same time that inflation in Canada was devouring the purchasing power of your Canadian dollars, the real was losing value against the Canadian dollar. Post 6 of the series analyzes this exchange rate in detail.

The practical effect: whoever was sending money to family in Brazil saw the value in reais go up (because the real lost value). Whoever was depending on remittances from Brazil saw the purchasing power of those remittances shrink in Canadian dollars.

It’s not a simple “winners and losers” situation. It depends on your financial profile and which money flows you have between the two countries. But it’s something worth understanding when planning your financial life here.

How do you make grocery shopping stretch in Canada?

One of the most surprising experiences for Brazilians who arrive in Canada is realizing that groceries here can be expensive in very specific ways.

It’s not that everything is expensive, it’s that what is expensive in Canada is different from what’s expensive in Brazil. Tropical fruit that costs R$3/kg (about CAD 0.75/kg) in Brazil costs CAD 4/kg here. Beef is expensive. Fresh seafood is scarce and expensive away from the coast. But pork, chicken, eggs, vegetables and temperate-climate produce, dairy, tend to be affordable, especially on sale.

The strategies that work:

Learn where to buy each thing. In Canada, grocery stores have very distinct niches:

• Walmart, No Frills, FreshCo: The cheapest for basics. No fancy ambiance, but prices that are hard to beat.
• Costco: For families or sharing, the cost per unit is the lowest on the market in many categories.
• T&T, H Mart, Patel Brothers: Asian/ethnic markets that have rice, beans, spices, and imported products at prices much more affordable than conventional supermarkets. A Brazilian who discovers T&T rarely goes back to Sobeys to buy rice.
• Regular superstores (Sobeys, Metro, Loblaws): Convenient but more expensive. Use them for a quick top-up or when an item is on sale.

Price matching. Many Canadian supermarkets (especially Walmart) do “price matching,” you show a competitor’s flyer with a lower price and they charge that price. It seems small but over a month it adds up.

Wednesday sales. In many cities, the weekly sale flyers start on Wednesdays. Apps like Flipp aggregate all the flyers and you plan the week’s shopping based on what’s on sale at which store.

Protein alternatives to beef. Beans, lentils, eggs, cottage cheese, Greek yogurt, chicken, these are proteins with high nutritional value and low cost. The diet that works financially in Canada is quite different from the standard Brazilian diet.

Cooking at home is the difference. In Brazil, eating out or ordering delivery can be affordable. In Canada, a dish at a mid-range restaurant costs CAD 15-25. A typical delivery with fees is CAD 30-50 per person. Cooking at home isn’t just frugality, it’s a financial necessity in the first years.

What’s the difference between Brazil’s IPCA and Canada’s CPI?

As a Brazilian, you grew up hearing about the IPCA, the Broad Consumer Price Index, Brazil’s official inflation metric. Here you’ll hear about Canada’s CPI (Consumer Price Index), and it’s useful to understand the differences.

IPCA (Brazil):

• Target: 3.0% (with a tolerance range of ±1.5%)
• Methodology: survey across 16 metropolitan regions, 160 sub-items
• Category with the largest weight: housing ~14%, food ~23%
• Recent history: 4.6% in 2023, estimated ~5% in 2024

CPI (Canada):

• Target: 2.0% (with a 1-3% band)
• Methodology: national survey across 8 major cities
• Category with the largest weight: housing/shelter ~28%, food ~16%
• Recent history: 3.9% in 2023, 2.4% in 2024, 1.8% in Feb 2026

The difference in the weight of the “housing” category is significant: in Canada, it represents nearly 30% of the CPI, which means the housing crisis influences measured inflation here more than in Brazil. When rents and mortgage costs rise, the CPI rises even if food and energy are stable.

For a Brazilian immigrant making the financial transition, that difference in composition matters when planning the budget: in Canada, housing will consume a larger share of income than you were used to in Brazil, and that’s reflected in the inflation index itself.

How does the cost of living vary between Canadian cities?

One thing that frequently surprises newcomers is that “Canada” is not a single cost of living. It’s a continental country where the cost of living varies dramatically between cities.

Vancouver (BC): Consistently one of the most expensive cities in the world relative to local wages. Absurdly expensive housing. Expensive food. Expensive but good public transit. The mild climate (by Canadian standards) is the only “bonus.” Offset by tech salaries above the national average.

Toronto (ON): Second most expensive. Canada’s financial and tech centre. High salaries in finance, tech, and consulting, but rent and housing consume a huge share of those salaries. Good public transit infrastructure.

Calgary (AB): Alberta has no provincial income tax, which means that the lower nominal salaries relative to BC/Ontario convert into comparable or better net salaries. Rent in Calgary is substantially cheaper than Vancouver. The energy sector boom created a strong labour market.

Edmonton (AB): Similar to Calgary, with a more industrial and health-focused profile. Cost of living even lower than Calgary. Less “glamour,” but a better financial balance for many families.

Ottawa (ON): Federal capital with a strong job market in government, tech, and health. Lower cost of living than Toronto with comparable salaries in many sectors.

Montreal (QC): The only major Canadian city where rent has historically been affordable relative to local income. Requires French for work in government and many local industries, but for those who speak or learn French, it’s the best value for quality of life among the major cities.

The choice of which city to put down roots in is one of the most impactful financial decisions an immigrant can make in Canada. A salary of CAD 70,000 in Montreal has very different purchasing power from CAD 80,000 in Vancouver.

How should Canadian inflation evolve in 2026-2028?

Economists at the Bank of Canada and the federal government are working with inflation projections that fall between 1.5% and 2.5% for the next two to three years. It’s the benign scenario: a return to normality, with no immediate risk of another inflationary spike.

The risks that could change this:

Trade tariffs: The trade war between the United States and Canada, which escalated in 2025, introduces an imported-inflation factor that’s hard to quantify. American products getting more expensive in Canada due to tariffs could pressure prices in specific sectors.

Housing: If housing inflation doesn’t ease as new properties enter the market, the overall index could remain systematically above target.

Energy: Any new oil price shock (geopolitical conflict, an OPEC production cut) could relaunch inflationary pressure.

But in the base case, the 2026 scenario is one of controlled inflation. For anyone planning to come to Canada, that’s good news: the years of the sharpest cost-of-living pain have already passed.

The psychological cost of inflation: a perspective the numbers don’t show

In 2022, I was here. I lived what these numbers represent.

It isn’t easy to describe the experience of walking into a grocery store every month and seeing prices different from the month before. Not dramatically, but consistently upward. The butter that was CAD 4.99 is now CAD 5.49. The chicken that was CAD 7.99/kg is now CAD 9.49/kg. The eggs that were CAD 3.99 for 12 reached CAD 6.99.

In isolation, each increase seems small. Accumulated over 18 months, it’s a real and noticeable reduction in your standard of living. And when you’re a Brazilian immigrant, already navigating the insecurity of a new country, building everything from scratch, that inflationary pressure carries an extra weight.

What I learned about inflation during that period:

Inflation is particularly cruel for those just starting out because you don’t have the assets that protect established people. Homeowners watched the value of their houses rise alongside inflation, automatic protection. Whoever had investments in commodities or energy stocks came out fine. But whoever was a renter, had fixed income, and was building reserves from scratch, that group was hit the hardest.

Brazilians have a genuine advantage in moments like these: we come from a country with decades of chronic inflation, hyperinflation in the 80s and 90s, and multiple economic plans. We instinctively know that idle money loses value. We know that buying on sale and stockpiling strategically makes a difference. We know that monthly planning isn’t optional.

That experience with economic instability is a superpower here, even if it’s something we’d rather never have had to learn.

How the 2022 inflation crisis changed Canadians’ behaviour:

There’s a permanent change in Canadian consumer behaviour post-2022. More attention to prices, more use of comparison apps, more home cooking, less waste, more planning. That shift in mindset was real and lasting. Pre-2022 Canada had a relatively loose consumer culture; post-2022 Canada is more financially conscious.

We immigrants who arrived during or just after that crisis absorbed these lessons differently from native-born Canadians, because for us, the contrast with the period of arrival was sharper. But the lessons are the same.

See the current economic data

The historical data I presented here covers 2019 to 2024. For the economic indicators updated monthly, including the most recent CPI and other data on the Canadian economy, visit the Canada Data in Real Time page.

Conclusion: The storm passed, but it left marks

The economic history of Canada between 2019 and 2024 is a story of extremes: from a healthy economy to a pandemic collapse, to a distorted boom, to 40-year inflation, to a painful correction, and finally to a normalization.

If you were here during 2022, you know how hard it was to watch prices rise month after month while your salary tried, but failed, to keep up. If you’re arriving now, you’re entering a Canada that’s far more stable economically.

Don’t underestimate the scars that the 2022 inflation left on the collective psychology of Canadians, including immigrants. There’s a new caution about spending, a greater appreciation of financial planning, an awareness of where each dollar goes that the previous generation didn’t necessarily have.

That’s not a bad thing. It’s economic maturity acquired the hard way.

And we Brazilians have an advantage in moments like these: we come from a country with a long experience of living alongside inflation. We know how to plan, how to save, how to find value where others see only cost.

That resilience is a superpower here.

I got your back.

Sources

• Statistics Canada, Consumer Price Index (CPI), Table 18-10-0004-01. Available at: https://www150.statcan.gc.ca/t1/tbl1/en/dtbl!/18/18-10-0004-01. Data used under the Open Government Licence, Canada 2.0.

• Statistics Canada, Gross Domestic Product, Expenditure-Based, Table 36-10-0104-01. Available at: https://www150.statcan.gc.ca/t1/tbl1/en/dtbl!/36/36-10-0104-01. Open Government Licence.

• Statistics Canada, Consumer Price Index by component (food, shelter, energy), Table 18-10-0004-01 disaggregated. Open Government Licence.

• Bank of Canada, Monetary Policy and Overnight Rate Target. Available at: https://www.bankofcanada.ca/core-functions/monetary-policy/.

• Statistics Canada, Labour Force Survey (for inflation vs wages comparison). Table 14-10-0063-01. Open Government Licence.