Lorne Dach, NDP Critic for Transportation, speaks at an Esso gas station in Gasoline Alley on Tuesday. (rdnewsNOW/Alessia Proietti)

By Alessia Proietti/rdnewsNOW

Higher pump prices than Ontario

Alberta NDP requests audit for gas tax relief program

Jul 19, 2022 | 3:10 PM

The Alberta NDP is calling on the provincial government to audit whether the pause of the 13-cent gas tax is truly being passed along to Alberta motorists.

Lorne Dach, NDP Critic for Transportation, spoke at an Esso gas station in Gasoline Alley on Tuesday in front of a pump price that read 178.9 cents/ litre.

“Those kinds of prices are really painful for Alberta families trying to cover their monthly bills, keep a roof overhead and food on the table, let alone if you’re trying to go on a summer road trip,” Dach said.

“Back in April, we called on the government to pause the 13-cent gas tax and they did. We called on them to extend that pause into September and they did that as well. But we also said they’d better make sure that those 13 cents are getting passed along to Albertans and not just gobbled up by the gas companies.”

On April 1, 2022, the Government of Alberta put a pause on the provincial fuel tax, including 13 cents per litre for gasoline, 13 cents for diesel, and four cents for marked gasoline and diesel.

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Now over three months later, Dach says gas prices are higher than they were before the gas tax was paused. According to GasBuddy, while the average price in Red Deer was 186.8 cents/litre on July 1, it was 163.4 cents/ litre on March 1.

Dach compared prices in Alberta to those currently in Ontario, where some cities like Mississauga are pricing gas at 166.9 cents/litre and Toronto at 171.9 cents /litre, according to the site on Tuesday.

“Why on earth is gas cheaper in Toronto than it is here in Red Deer?” Dach asked.

As of July 19, the average gas prices per litre for each of the provinces are the following:

• British Columbia: 202.0
• Alberta: 178.3
• Saskatchewan: 187.5
• Manitoba: 188.3
• Ontario: 177.4
• Quebec: 193.4
• Newfoundland & Labrador: 202.1
• Prince Edward Island: 192.2
• New Brunswick: 192.1
• Nova Scotia: 186.9

“I’m not here to speculate; in fact, the opposite. What we’re trying to do is to establish the facts,” said Dach. “We want to make sure that the gap in the margins between Ontario and Alberta prices is in fact justifiable and we want to find out the rationale for it.”

Dach also pointed to University of Calgary economist Trevor Tombe who claimed Alberta gas stations are pricing with profit margins up to four times larger than average, twice the national average, and possibly the largest in Alberta’s history.

According to the Edmonton Journal, Tombe said that while gas retailers used to make eight cents per litre in profit, they have made roughly 35 cents per litre in the past week.

The Government of Alberta did not confirm as of yet if they would conduct an official audit, however, Paul Hamnett, Press Secretary to Minister of Finance Jason Nixon, responded that the savings are being passed on to Albertans.

“To date, the data available shows that fuel retailers are passing along Alberta’s fuel tax savings to consumers, both for gasoline and diesel since the program’s April 1 inception. Gas prices in Alberta remain below the national average,” he said. The current national average, as per GasBuddy on July 19, is 185.2 cents/litre.

“Fuel prices vary among retailers but Alberta’s competitive environment serves to protect drivers from potential price gouging by providing many options of where to buy fuel. The government will continue to monitor the effectiveness of the fuel tax pause on a quarterly basis and will continue to reiterate our message that we expect the full savings to be passed on to Albertans,” he said.

“These gas prices come at the same time as the UCP is forcing Albertans to pay more income tax, more property tax, more school fees, more tuition, more interest on student loans, more for camping, more for electricity, more for natural gas, and more for car insurance,” Dach said.

See updated gas prices in Red Deer on our website.