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Canajun Finances Home » Merry Christmas, Highspeed Internet a right, Inflation at 1.2 and #MoneyTalk

Merry Christmas, Highspeed Internet a right, Inflation at 1.2 and #MoneyTalk

Christmas is finally here, and I urge you to make the most of this festive season with your family and friends. Don’t forget to make your contribution to charity during this time, especially if you are fortunate enough to have extra to spare. Your generosity will help make a difference in someone’s life and bring them joy this Christmas. Remember, charity should be a mandatory part of your financial planning, so make sure to prioritize it when planning for the new year. Let’s spread the joy and make this Christmas season a memorable one for all.

The CRTC announced on Thursday that High-Speed Internet access is a right for all Canadians. The line I like the most in the report was:

High quality and reliable digital connectivity is essential for the quality of life of Canadians and Canada’s economic prosperity.

– Jean-Pierre Blais, Chairman and CEO, CRTC

Will this somehow cause the big Internet Service providers in Canada to ensure affordable (yet high-quality) solutions are available to all Canadians? My skepticism meter is reading high that things will change without a legislated solution (but we saw how well the $25 cable TV solution did). It would be a Merry Christmas if everyone could have access to basic internet, which is defined as:

  • speeds of 50 megabits per second (Mbps) download/10 Mbps upload for fixed broadband Internet access services.
  • an unlimited data option for fixed broadband access services.
  • the latest mobile wireless technology available not only in homes and businesses, but also along major Canadian roads.
Inflation by Category November 2016
Inflation By Category (November 2016)

Stats Canada published the November Consumer Price Index numbers, and year over year inflation is running at a lowly 1.2% but is it really? After a cursory look, it seems that it might be good this month, with Food being a category where prices actually dropped.

As we have learned, there is a much more detailed report for the CPI, which answers a few more questions for us and gives us some tangible highlights:

Main contributors to the 12-month change in the CPI:

Main upward contributors:

  1. Purchase of passenger vehicles (+3.0%)
  2. Homeowners’ replacement cost (+4.4%)
  3. Food purchased from restaurants (+2.5%)
  4. Electricity (+3.5%)
  5. Homeowners’ home and mortgage insurance (+4.4%)

Main downward contributors:

  1. Gasoline (-1.7%)
  2. Fresh vegetables (-4.7%)
  3. Meat (-2.0%)
  4. Fresh fruit (-4.5%)
  5. Travel tours (-4.2%)

The fact that Gas is down in price is not nearly as interesting as to how Fresh Veggies, Fruit and Meat are down in price. This is actually good news (for now); however, remember the prices on those foodstuffs have been going up big time over the whole summer. On the downside of things, Electricity prices continue to rise, not a good thing to see going into this Winter.

My Writings for Week Ending December 23rd

As most of my regular readers know, I am not a very big fan of New Year’s Resolutions, but having a financial plan for 2017 (financially) is a prudent thing to do, so thus I give you Smart Financial Goals for 2017. However, you want to motivate yourself to plan for the New Year as your business, get a plan down, and start using it.

I found 8 Holiday Ideas to Save Money in my archive of unfinished stories, so I dusted it off and published it for a small Ho Ho Ho for this Christmas season. It is a sarcastic commentary, but would you expect anything less from me?

It’s a Festivus Miracle!


For those of you who might not celebrate a Merry Christmas, Happy Kwanza, Merry Festivus, and any other holiday that I may have missed.

Merry Christmas Noddy

Nothing says Merry Christmas more to me than Noddy and the boys from Slade singing Merry Christmas Everybody.

Sing it, Noddy!

Christmas in Heaven

A festive tune by Monty Python

What is Christmas in Heaven really like?

Christmas Wishes from the Past

I seem to do this a lot, so here are my Christmas wishes from years gone by:

2016 Random Thoughts

My Twitter feed is where I re-tweet many great articles by some of my featured writers (and make the occasional odd or off-colour commentary on life (in 140 characters or less)). I am also on Reddit, Tumblr, Pinterest, Flipboard, Instagram and other Social Media sites (look for the BigCajunMan userid). Don’t forget to vote for my posts (see the nifty dashboard on the bottom of each article, where you can cast your votes). As they say in Quebec, vote early and vote often!

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