Why axing the carbon tax made gas cheaper and where to find it in Regina

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Regina drivers are in for some savings when they hit the pumps to fill up their vehicles after the federal government scrapped the carbon tax as of April 1.

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The elimination of the federal fuel charge, which was 17.6 cents per litre for gasoline, means consumers will potentially save about $8-9 when filling up, says Bob Klein, who owns Regina’s Checkers Gas.

But it does take a bit of time for that price drop to trickle down to those at the pumps.

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“We had an order come in on the first early in the morning so we could fill back up again, but at the new price then, so we’re supposed to take a little bit of a loss on the gas we had in the tanks, but that’s just business,” said Klein about the remaining gas the station had left in its tank after the carbon tax ended on March 31.

The independently-owned station is on the corner of 4th Ave and Pasqua St. On Wednesday morning, its regular petrol was sitting at $1.35 per litre and diesel, at $1.36 per litre. Premium petrol, at $1.69 per litre, was still on par with what it was prior to the tax elimination.

What was the federal carbon tax?

The consumer-facing federal carbon tax was introduced by the Liberal government and has been in effect for the past six years, collecting almost $45 billion in tax revenue. The carbon pricing was a national initiative to help reduce pollution by putting a disincentive on carbon-intensive products like fuel, according to information from the federal government’s website. All tax collected is then returned back to the province from which it’s collected.

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Premier Scott Moe has been vocal against carbon pricing. Saskatchewan removed its industrial carbon tax effective the same date. Moe had said he was proud that the province would be the only place in Canada to be “carbon-tax free” as of April 1.

How did it impact gas prices?

Klein says he adapts prices to consumers based on the prices his business gets from suppliers and that he often goes with whichever has the lower offer on a given day.

He says the cost of purchasing from his supplier “dropped significantly” on Tuesday morning, though he didn’t reveal the exact amount he paid.

Before the tax was eliminated and he was drawing down his tanks, he says he saw some other big gas stations raise prices, likely to recoup some of what they anticipated they might lose.

“They jumped their prices seven cents that day to $1.59 (per litre). We were at $1.45, but we left our price at $1.45. It’s just like they want to make up some extra money because they know they might lose some money,” he said.

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Average retail prices jumped a few cents on the days leading up to the nixing of the tax in Regina from around $1.51 per litre to $1.56, according to gas price tracker GasBuddy.

Those prices then took a dip to $1.43 on April 2, averages not seen so low since March 2023, according to the chart.

Where to find cheaper gas

On Wednesday, some of the cheapest fuel in the city was $1.28 per litre at Regina Discount on Winnipeg Street. Fas Gas on Edward Street was selling petrol at $1.33 per litre, according to GasBuddy.

Most other stations, including Petro-Canada, Esso, Shell and Co-op, had prices of $1.40 per litre or higher that day.

So far, prices have dropped an average of eight cents — not the the 17.6 cents that the carbon tax represented.

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