Premier Jason Kenney recently announced gas relief measures will be coming to Alberta's motorists in April, as the province gets set to remove its fuel tax, as well as offer a $150 rebate to help residents deal with rapidly rising electricity costs.
According to Kenney, the temporary removal of the fuel tax – in effect until benchmark WTI oil prices drop below $80 a barrel – will take about 13 cents off per litre, starting in April.
The relief comes after fuel prices have risen to historic highs in Alberta, the result of the ongoing conflict in Ukraine, which has brought uncertainty to global oil supplies and high fuel prices worldwide. Locally, the price of regular unleaded gasoline in Alberta went up more than 20 cents a litre in one week.
Regular gasoline was averaging more than $1.67 a litre at Rocky View County gas stations and its area municipalities.
High gas prices are a bit of a double-edged sword in Alberta. On one hand, it’s frustrating to be gouged at the pumps, especially during a time of sky-high inflation, when food, housing, and other goods are also going up in price.
On the other hand, high gas prices are generally indicative of higher oil prices, which are ultimately to the benefit of Alberta’s resource-reliant economy.
With gas costing what it does right now, relief measures won’t do much to make a huge difference to drivers’ overall savings – especially since the Liberal Party’s federal carbon tax is also going to rise from nine to 11 cents a litre on April 1.
That raise is something Kenney referred to as a “cruel April Fool’s Day joke” And no one is laughing.
