This will lower the price of a litre by 13 cents CDN.
Depending on the Province or region, fuel taxes can equate to 50 cents or more per litre.
Will other provinces follow?
The question about fuel costs and why they’ve jumped to historical highs is a complex one. Russia’s invasion of Ukraine is the main explanation behind the most recent price hikes. Now at $2 litre, filling up with gasoline has become a greater financial burden than ever. In order to help relieve some pressure, the Albertan government has dropped its provincial fuel tax.
While new EVs are slowly, very slowly, making their way to market, the very vast majority of Canadians drive vehicles with internal combustion engines. At these prices, filling up now costs considerably more than it did only a few weeks ago. And based on what’s going on around the world, the price of a barrel of crude is not about to drop.
What will drop is the Albertan government’s fuel tax of $0.13 per litre. According to the National Post, Albertan Premier Jason Kenney made the announcement yesterday. This leads us to wonder if other provinces will do the same.
Googling for information has revealed that provincial fuel tax rates vary wildly from one Province to another and even more so within the Province. Based on this quick search, we’ve found that some areas, Vancouver and Montreal for example, are taxed by more than $0.50/litre. In Quebec, from what we can find, the average is just under $0.20/litre.
The CBC looks into BC’s fuel prices and in the process, goes on to explain why prices are so high and more importantly, if there’s hope that they will drop in the future.