{"id":550036,"date":"2026-03-20T23:52:11","date_gmt":"2026-03-20T23:52:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/550036\/"},"modified":"2026-03-20T23:52:11","modified_gmt":"2026-03-20T23:52:11","slug":"fuel-food-rebates-would-not-bring-down-prices-amid-iran-war-economists-national","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/550036\/","title":{"rendered":"Fuel, food rebates \u2018would not bring down\u2019 prices amid Iran war: economists – National"},"content":{"rendered":"

Canadians are feeling the pinch in their wallets as the oil<\/a> shock from the Iran<\/a> war has raised energy prices worldwide, with some unions calling for grocery and fuel rebates.<\/p>\n

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\u201cWhen global instability drives up fuel and transportation costs, it doesn\u2019t just show up at the gas pump. It raises the cost of groceries, heating, and everyday essentials. And it\u2019s working families who are feeling it most,\u201d the Canadian Labour Congress said in a statement Thursday.<\/p>\n

The group, which counts dozens of unions across Canada among its ranks, is calling on the federal government to \u201cexpand supports targeted at working-class Canadians, including the Canada Workers Benefit and grocery-related affordability<\/a> measures.\u201d<\/p>\n

The statement also called for the introduction of a \u201cfuel rebate\u201d to help Canadians deal with higher prices at the pump.<\/p>\n

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Canada\u2019s national average for regular gas<\/a> is sitting just below $1.70 a litre as of publication, according to CAA, and a month earlier it was closer to $1.28.<\/p>\n

For an average passenger vehicle, that might mean paying roughly $20 to $25 more to fill up every time.<\/p>\n

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\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t2:07
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tBusiness Matters: Global energy prices soar as Trump threatens to blow up major Iranian gas field\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\tWhy rebates won’t tackle the core issue\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n

Higher fuel costs also threaten to raise grocery bills for Canadians; however, some economists say a rebate would be little more than a short-term measure.<\/p>\n

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\u201cIf we gave a rebate to Canadians for fuel prices, that would only deal with the symptom, which is higher prices. It would not bring down fuel prices and it would not bring down grocery prices,\u201d University of Guelph food economist Mike von Massow said.<\/p>\n

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The U.S. and Israel\u2019s war on Iran and Tehran\u2019s subsequent blockage of the Strait of Hormuz \u2013 a key global shipping choke point \u2013 has raised the price of crude oil beyond US$110 per barrel in international markets.<\/p>\n

While rebates might help for short-term crises, there\u2019s no telling how long this conflict will continue, von Massow said.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat remains to be seen is how long-term these fuel price increases are. I think we\u2019re probably seeing this turn into a longer and longer horizon,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Many provinces are reporting huge deficits, leaving little money for governments to give more rebates, Concordia University economist Moshe Lander said.<\/p>\n

\u201cLet\u2019s say that we had $1,000 per person per month. That\u2019s not going to pay the bills. That\u2019s not even going to come close to paying the bills, that\u2019s not even going to pay rent,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cOne thousand dollars per month per person for 40 million Canadians is $480 billion. We lost our minds during the height of COVID when the government came forth with a $300-billion deficit for locking us all down,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n

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Canada also already has a grocery rebate, von Massow said, referring to the new Canada Groceries and Essentials Benefit, which received royal assent last month<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u201cNot long ago, the federal government announced rebates for food prices. The truth is, we have something that is responding to the significant price increases we\u2019ve seen in the food space last year,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n

In the short term, there isn\u2019t much the Canadian government can do to end the Iran oil crisis, Lander said.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat\u2019s the long and short of it. You can\u2019t fix this, because unfortunately, it\u2019s something beyond our control,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is just one more supply shock that we\u2019ve experienced in the last five to 10 years, that we haven\u2019t experienced for about 40 years prior to that,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\tHow are other countries responding to energy shock?\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tMore on Economy
\n\t\t\tMore videos\n\t\t<\/p>\n

Countries around the world are dealing with the higher energy costs by encouraging citizens to implement energy-saving measures<\/a>.<\/p>\n

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In Thailand, an order for civil servants to work from home for the foreseeable future came with another request, as well \u2013 the Thai prime minister also ordered measures including suspending overseas trips and using stairs instead of elevators.<\/p>\n

Sri Lanka introduced fuel rationing on Sunday to extend the life of its supplies. Under the new system, motorcycles will be allocated five litres, cars 15 litres and buses 60 litres of fuel per week.<\/p>\n

Federal, provincial and municipal governments in Canada can do so by encouraging the use of public transport and strengthening alternative means of transportation such as walking or cycling, Lander said.<\/p>\n

\u201cNow is the time to start considering getting rid of that car and considering public transportation, moving closer to where you work, biking, walking, taking public transport, carpooling,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Over the longer term, however, he said the fossil fuel economy should be reconsidered in light of the multiple oil shocks the global economy has suffered this decade.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is why we need to invest billions of dollars in solar and wind and nuclear and think imaginatively about how we\u2019re going to reduce that carbon footprint,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

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\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tIran war price shock forces countries to ration fuel consumption\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\tWhere are grocery prices headed?\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n

Canadians should prepare for an \u201calmost immediate increase\u201d in fresh produce as a result of the oil crisis, von Massow said.<\/p>\n

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\u201cWe will see, almost immediately, increase in the prices of fresh fruits and vegetables because we import them at this time of year. They\u2019re a perishable product. Transportation represents a larger proportion of the retail price than for some processed products,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

The higher prices, however, will be mitigated by the growing season starting in Canada, as produce will be trucked over much shorter distances.<\/p>\n

\u201cAs we get into the next several months, we were expecting to see a decrease in the price of fresh fruits and vegetables as we get into Canadian production season,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ll start to see Canadian produce \u2014 asparagus in May and June, strawberries in June, and some lettuce.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Canadians are feeling the pinch in their wallets as the oil shock from the Iran war has raised…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":550037,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[17755,45,49,48,1849,46,5897,202944,3241],"class_list":["post-550036","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-economy","tag-affordability","tag-business","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-consumer","tag-economy","tag-iran","tag-iran-war","tag-oil"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/550036","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=550036"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/550036\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/550037"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=550036"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=550036"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=550036"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}