Calgary’s average gas price jumps 10 cents a litre since Sunday

Hopefully you filled your tank up over the weekend, because Calgary’s gas prices are rising again.

GasBuddy reports the average price for a litre of regular in the city was just over $1.90 Tuesday morning.

The spike comes after the gas price tracking website recorded Calgary’s average at just under $1.80 per litre on Sunday.

NDP Energy Critic Kathleen Ganley is calling on the UCP government to renew its suspension of the provincial gas tax through to October. She is also calling for gas stations to be audited to ensure savings are passed on to consumers.

“Gas prices are high, and expected to remain high – the UCP should commit to relief,” she wrote in a Twitter thread Monday.

Today we asked the provincial government to continue the gas tax rebate through to October 1st, to be reassessed at that time.

Alberta families are still hurting the this UCP government has failed to provide any other relief.

???? #AbLeg

— Kathleen Ganley (@KathleenGanley) June 6, 2022

Alberta Premier Jason Kenney previously said that the provincial gas tax removal will stay in effect so long as the price of Western Texas Intermediate (WTI) stays over $90 USD. He said the government would revisit the program in July.

The premier’s office released a statement Tuesday that says it is looking at more measures to provide relief to Albertans, including rolling out electricity rebates and a natural gas consumer price protection program.

“The fuel tax suspension has been contingent on the price of oil (WTI) remaining above $90/bbl. In recent days the price has hovered in the $120/bbl range,” a spokesperson for Jason Kenney said.

Meanwhile, Acting Minister of Treasury Board and Finance Jason Nixon responded to Ganley in a letter, and asked if she would sign a letter on behalf of the NDP asking the federal government to suspend its carbon tax and fuel tax while the price of WTI is above $90/bbl.

“The official evaluation will take place in mid-June based on the average price over previous four weeks. It is clear from the current high prices that this program will likely continue for another quarter, from July 1 to the end of September. We will make an official announcement later this month,” Nixon wrote in the letter. “While Alberta’s government is taking these steps to put more money in Albertans’ pockets, other levels of government are not following our approach. The carbon tax imposed by the federal government resulted in an increase of up to 11 cents per litre on gas and 13.4 cents per litre on diesel. The federal fuel tax also adds 10 cents to the price of every litre of gas and 4 cents per litre on diesel.”

Despite the high prices, Calgarians can count themselves lucky as Alberta continues to have the cheapest average fuel prices in the country.

By comparison, GasBuddy recorded people in Vancouver paying an average of almost $2.35 per litre of regular on Monday, while the national average is just over $2.09.

Gas prices have risen rapidly over the last year as a tight global supply is worsened by the Russian invasion of Ukraine.

Prices have also been pushed higher by strong demand as the economy reopens after lockdowns imposed due to the COVID-19 pandemic and a busy travel season gets underway.

–With files from Kelly Turner and The Canadian Press