The important inflation affecting Canadians has been well-known for years. What I wasn't aware of was our individual income has been decreasing for a long time, even though GDP is growing.
Indeed, due to how recessions are defined, a major phenomenon had been off the radars of mass media until now, but a July 2024 RBC report shows that Canada's per capita GDP has declined to 3.1% below 2019 levels.
So as the CBC explains in a long but interesting explanation, Canadians feel like they're in a recession even though economists disagree. The most interesting part, at 7 minutes, shows that Canada is by far the worst from 3 G7 countries suffering from such a "per capita recession".
2024-12 Update
I haven't seen a more credible and well-written explanation of this trend than Pierre Fortin's Les Canadiens se sont beaucoup moins enrichis que les Américains ces 35 dernières années article.