{"id":604052,"date":"2026-04-14T19:33:19","date_gmt":"2026-04-14T19:33:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/604052\/"},"modified":"2026-04-14T19:33:19","modified_gmt":"2026-04-14T19:33:19","slug":"liberals-plan-to-suspend-federal-fuel-excise-tax-until-labour-day-winnipeg-free-press","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/604052\/","title":{"rendered":"Liberals plan to suspend federal fuel excise tax until Labour Day \u2013 Winnipeg Free Press"},"content":{"rendered":"

OTTAWA \u2013 The Liberal government will suspend the fuel excise tax on gasoline and diesel until Labour Day as the Iran war sends energy costs surging, Prime Minster Mark Carney announced Tuesday.<\/p>\n

Carney said the tax break will start April 20 and is expected to save Canadians 10 cents per litre on regular gasoline and four cents on a litre of diesel.<\/p>\n

Speaking to reporters on Parliament Hill, Carney said suspending the excise tax is a \u201cresponsible, temporary measure\u201d that offers \u201creal relief\u201d to Canadian families.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere is an enormous shock in the global economy that is undergoing right now because of the conflict. And we have to assess what\u2019s the best approach, given our core plan and what can we do in the short term,\u201d Carney said.<\/p>\n

Gas prices have surged in Canada and worldwide in recent months as the conflict in the Middle East has constrained global oil shipments.<\/p>\n

While average gasoline prices are down roughly 10 cents from the national peak a week ago, CAA\u2019s gas price tracker shows an average cost of $1.73 per litre at pumps across the country on Tuesday \u2014 more than 40 cents higher than a year ago.<\/p>\n

A media statement about the federal plan said it will also reduce prices for truckers and other businesses with heavy transportation costs. Carney said the excise tax will be waived for jet fuel domestically as well, as airliners contend with ballooning energy costs.<\/p>\n

Carney\u2019s announcement stops short of the Conservative party\u2019s call for the excise tax and GST on gas and diesel to be waived for the rest of the year, and for a permanent end to the clean fuel standard and industrial carbon tax.<\/p>\n

Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre argued in the House of Commons on Tuesday that the Liberals would not have taken any action if they had not been pushed by the Official Opposition.<\/p>\n

But he accused the federal government of going only \u201chalf way\u201d and for \u201conly half the time.\u201d<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\"Gas
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/a>
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tGas prices rose to over $2 per litre in many stations in Montreal on Thursday, April 2, 2026. THE CANADIAN PRESS\/Christinne Muschi<\/p>\n

Poilievre said his proposal would cut the cost of a litre of gasoline by 25 cents.<\/p>\n

Carney told reporters that waiving the excise tax for a little over four months will cost the federal government roughly $2.4 billion, while the Conservatives put the price tag for their proposal at around $5 billion.<\/p>\n

The Liberals are largely paying for the excise tax cut by \u201crecycling\u201d the revenues from the boost Canada\u2019s economy typically receives from higher gas prices, Carney said.<\/p>\n

Poilievre argued Ottawa ought to go further and use the higher tax revenue to offer Canadians a steeper break at the pumps.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat money should go back into the pockets of consumers, not into the coffers of government,\u201d he said Tuesday.<\/p>\n

The prime minister defended the excise tax cut as a more responsible approach to managing federal finances while supporting Canadians and the broader economy.<\/p>\n

\n\t\tWinnipeg Free Press | Newsletter\n\t<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\"Sign<\/p>\n

\u201cWe didn\u2019t just say, \u2018Get rid of all taxes on gasoline and let\u2019s spend $9 billion as if we\u2019re not in government,\u2019 which is actually what you do say when you\u2019re not in government,\u201d Carney said.<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\"Prime
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/a>
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tPrime Minister Mark Carney responds to a question following an announcement on Parliament Hill in Ottawa on Tuesday, April 14, 2026. THE CANADIAN PRESS\/Adrian Wyld<\/p>\n

\u201cBut when you are in government, you have to choose, you have to balance, and this is the balance we\u2019ve struck.\u201d<\/p>\n

U.S. President Donald Trump said Monday the American military had begun a blockade of Iranian ports as part of an effort to force Tehran to open the Strait of Hormuz.<\/p>\n

This report by The Canadian Press was first published April 14, 2026.<\/p>\n

\u2014 with files from The Associated Press<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"OTTAWA \u2013 The Liberal government will suspend the fuel excise tax on gasoline and diesel until Labour Day…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":604053,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[194296],"tags":[49,48,22073],"class_list":{"0":"post-604052","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-winnipeg","8":"tag-ca","9":"tag-canada","10":"tag-winnipeg"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/604052","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=604052"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/604052\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/604053"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=604052"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=604052"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=604052"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}