{"id":577721,"date":"2026-04-02T16:33:09","date_gmt":"2026-04-02T16:33:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/577721\/"},"modified":"2026-04-02T16:33:09","modified_gmt":"2026-04-02T16:33:09","slug":"poilievre-calls-on-canada-to-cut-gas-taxes","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/577721\/","title":{"rendered":"Poilievre calls on Canada to cut gas taxes"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"c-paragraph\">Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre is calling for federal gas taxes to be scrapped for the rest of the year, arguing the tax holiday would bring immediate relief to drivers facing rising fuel prices.<\/p>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph\">In a press release shared Thursday, the Opposition leader said the move would save a family of four an average of around $1,200 for the rest of the year. <\/p>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph\">\u201cCanadians deserve affordable fuel and food,\u201d said Poilievre. \u201cSeniors should be able to enjoy a worry-free drive to see grandkids, parents should not stress about filling the minivan for hockey practice and workers should be able to fill their trucks stress-free.<\/p>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph\">\u201cThat is why Conservatives call for zero tax on gas the rest of the year,\u201d he added. <\/p>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph\">Conservatives say the temporary tax cut would drop prices at the pump by 25 cents a litre.<\/p>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph\">Poilievre pointed to countries like <a href=\"https:\/\/www.ctvnews.ca\/canada\/article\/its-too-expensive-now-calls-for-domestic-fuel-tax-relief-as-europe-australia-act\/\" target=\"_self\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" title=\"https:\/\/www.ctvnews.ca\/canada\/article\/its-too-expensive-now-calls-for-domestic-fuel-tax-relief-as-europe-australia-act\/\">Ireland, Spain and Australia<\/a>, each of which have cut fuel taxes after prices spiked over the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.ctvnews.ca\/world\/mideast-conflict\/\" target=\"_self\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" title=\"https:\/\/www.ctvnews.ca\/world\/mideast-conflict\/\">Middle East conflict<\/a> between the U.S., Israel and Iran. <\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" data-chromatic=\"ignore\" alt=\"\" class=\"c-image\" loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/HL5VIEGAIZCZXBZEZVVPNIS5PQ.jpg\"  width=\"800\" height=\"450\"\/>Conservative Party Leader Pierre Poilievre Conservative Party Leader Pierre Poilievre speaks during a news conference in Ottawa, Thursday, April 2, 2026. THE CANADIAN PRESS\/Adrian Wyld <\/p>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph\">Poilievre said the plan would eliminate the fuel excise tax, the GST on fuel and the clean fuel charge. He argued lower fuel prices would also reduce the cost of food and other goods transported by truck.<\/p>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph\">According to the party, the tax cuts would cost the federal government $5.25 billion this year. They argue the plan would be paid for by cutting federal spending in other areas, including the gun buyback program and foreign aid, as well as cancelling the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.ctvnews.ca\/business\/article\/poilievre-calls-for-cancellation-of-multibillion-dollar-high-speed-rail-project\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">multibillion-dollar high-speed rail project<\/a> between Toronto and Quebec City.<\/p>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph\">Speaking to reporters in Ottawa on Thursday morning, Poilievre was pressed about the financial feasibility of the plan.<\/p>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph\">Asked if he would consider any movement on gas taxes a success, Poilievre said \u201cthe lower the better.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph\">\u201cThe problem is that the government is too rich, and the people are too poor. It\u2019s time to have the government pinch its pennies so that Canadians don\u2019t have to,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph\">On Tuesday, Prime Minister Mark Carney wouldn\u2019t say if his government would consider cutting the federal gas tax.<\/p>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph\">\u201cWe\u2019ll have a fiscal event in the spring with the spring update, and that would be the right time to fully answer that question,\u201d Carney said. <\/p>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph\">With files from CTV News\u2019 Stephanie Ha<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre is calling for federal gas taxes to be scrapped for the rest of the&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":577722,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[712,49,48,44],"class_list":["post-577721","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-canada","tag-apple-news","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/577721","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=577721"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/577721\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/577722"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=577721"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=577721"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=577721"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}