This column originally appeared in the Western Standard.

The holidays are here again, a time of joy and festivity, of peace on earth and good will towards men.

But you’ll be forgiven if you’re not feeling as festive as in years past. After all, it’s not easy to be merry when you’re struggling to heat your home, pay your hydro bill, gas up your car, or put food on the table, let alone put presents under the tree.

If you’re in that position, you’re not alone. Because our economy is in particularly rough shape this year, and that is hitting regular people hard. In fact, a recent survey by Abacus Data found that “Fully 67% of Canadians say the cost of living where they live is the worst they can ever remember it being.”

That’s a worrisome number, made all the more frustrating by the fact that much of the rise can be attributed to the choices of our elected officials over the past decade.

Now, it is easy to see how that’s the case in talking about our elevated heating and electricity rates. The Industrial Carbon Tax, which Mark Carney likes to pretend isn’t paid by consumers, obviously increases the cost of extracting oil and natural gas, which ultimately gets passed on to ordinary Canadians in the form of higher prices.

Much the same can be said about a lot of the red tape which we wrap around our hydrocarbons, especially those regulations which our peer nations refuse to impose on their energy industry.

Our so-called Clean Fuel Regulations — which I’ve previously described as our Second Carbon Tax — mandate that fuel suppliers reduce the carbon intensity of products like gas and diesel by blending higher amounts of ethanol into fuels, making them less carbon-intensive but also less efficient. That sets you back several cents per litre whenever you fill up. It’s also terrible for your engine.

Meanwhile, taxpayer funded subsidies to the wind and solar industries; our Clean Electricity Regulations; and Ottawa’s utterly insane commitment — put into law in 2021 — to achieve national net-zero carbon emissions by 2050, all conspire to elevate your heating and electricity bills.

But according to Abacus, the most widespread affordability concern for Canadians right now is the price of groceries, mentioned by 81% of respondents. Stats Canada has found that food prices have jumped 27%over the past five years, and that grocery price inflation is the highest it’s been in years.

According to Dalhousie University’s Canada’s Food Price Report, the price of beef jumped 19% in the first quarter of this year alone, and is up 23% from the five-year average. The cost of chicken and pork have risen noticeably as well.

Co-author of that report, Sylvain Charlebois, projects that grocery costs will continue to rise in 2026, going up between 4 to 6%, with meat prices increasing more than other groceries. The report estimates that the average Canadian family will spend nearly $1,000 more on food than in 2025.

That is alarming. And the Green Ideologues in Ottawa are to blame.

Not entirely, of course. Droughts in both the US and Western Canada have contributed to thinning cattle herds, meaning that there is a mismatch between the supply of, and demand for, beef.

But they have played a big part.

First, because their keep-it-in-the-ground policies have functioned as a drag on our economy, weakening our dollar and diminished our purchasing power. Oil and gas is the backbone of our economy, and doing everything they can to keep it from growing has left us with sluggish growth, and a stagnant economy.

And, second, because it turns out that farmers have to pay the same costs that the rest of us, just at a much larger scale. Their heating and electricity bills are skyrocketing. The cost of fuel for their tractors, trucks, and other heavy machinery have also gone through the roof, making it more expensive to raise livestock and grow crops, and to get them to market.

And that’s on top of the fact that they have issues that are unique to their business, like the effect of the Industrial Carbon Tax on fertilizer production plants.

Now, lately Mark Carney has been trying to signal moderation on this file. I’m inclined to think that his moves don’t amount to much, with more steps backwards than forwards.

But perhaps those signals constitute a tacit admission that his party’s policies haven’t worked, and an openness to trying something different. If so, my advice to Mr. Carney would be to avoid half measures – scrap the Clean Fuel Regulations; and repeal the Industrial Carbon Tax; Bill C-69, the “no new pipelines act;” Bill C-48, the Oil Tanker Moratorium; and Canada’s commitment to Net-Zero.

But whether or not he follows my advice — and I’m not holding my breath — we still have reason to celebrate at this time of year. We live in this great nation, with some of the best people on earth. And we’ve lived through harder times than this before. So let us be of good cheer, spend some time with family and friends, and then, in the new year, get back to fighting the good fight.