{"id":605210,"date":"2026-04-15T07:39:24","date_gmt":"2026-04-15T07:39:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/605210\/"},"modified":"2026-04-15T07:39:24","modified_gmt":"2026-04-15T07:39:24","slug":"alberta-sticking-to-its-gas-tax-formula-as-ottawa-announces-cut-amid-high-prices-3","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/605210\/","title":{"rendered":"Alberta sticking to its gas tax formula as Ottawa announces cut amid high prices"},"content":{"rendered":"

While Prime Minister Mark Carney announced federal measures<\/a> to give Canadians relief at the pumps Tuesday, Alberta says its fuel tax will stay in place for now.<\/p>\n

Alberta Finance Minister Nate Horner says he supports Ottawa\u2019s move but says the province is sticking with its existing fuel tax \u2014 at least until July \u2014 in part because oil prices are inherently volatile.<\/p>\n

He told reporters in the legislature the province is doing what it can.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf we\u2019re going to give (the federal government) their flowers over this, you should also give us some on the fact we don\u2019t have a (provincial) sales tax,\u201d Horner said.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey still have GST on fuel. There\u2019s more they can do.\u201d<\/p>\n

MORE: What does the pause on the federal fuel excise tax mean for Albertans?<\/a><\/p>\n

The province\u2019s current relief program would eliminate the tax of 13 cents per litre if the average benchmark North American West Texas Intermediate price remains at or above US$90 per barrel through portions of May and June.<\/p>\n

As of Tuesday afternoon, WTI was hovering above the US$90 per barrel mark.<\/p>\n

Alberta Opposition NDP Leader Naheed Nenshi has been calling on Premier Danielle Smith\u2019s United Conservatives to drop the levy since the military conflict in the Middle East, which began in late February, choked global oil shipments and sent energy costs soaring.<\/p>\n

Nenshi told reporters Tuesday the province needs to be more nimble in the face of extraordinary price fluctuations. He accused the government of hoarding windfall royalty revenues.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey\u2019re not willing to act, even though gas prices have gone up 40 cents a litre in a month. This is not normal. This is not normal fluctuation,\u201d Nenshi said.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey would rather have the money to cover up their monstrous deficit than to actually manage this government\u2019s finances.\u201d<\/p>\n

Alberta\u2019s 2025-26 budget was tabled two days before U.S.-Israeli attacks on Iran began, projecting a $9.4-billion deficit. That red ink is based in part on an estimated average WTI price of US$60.50 a barrel in the 2026 fiscal year, which began April 1.<\/p>\n

Alberta\u2019s budget is closely tethered to oil revenues. Every dollar change over the course of a year from the budgeted WTI is worth $680 million to Alberta.<\/p>\n

In the legislature Tuesday, Nenshi again pressed Smith\u2019s UCP to take action on the fuel tax, saying the average family could save over $300 per year.<\/p>\n

Smith instead turned to her government\u2019s record, noting it introduced a personal income tax cut that saw many two-income households save $1,500 per year.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat saves five times the amount that a gas tax would,\u201d said Smith.<\/p>\n

She added she has sympathy for people dealing with the high cost of living.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf we have surplus and windfall revenues, a portion of those will be returned to taxpayers,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

The federal fuel excise tax break is to begin Monday and is expected to save Canadians 10 cents per litre on regular gasoline and four cents a litre on diesel until Labour Day.<\/p>\n

The Canadian Automobile Association 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

Carney said waiving the excise tax for about four months means forgoing about $2.4 billion.<\/p>\n

Alberta Energy Minister Brian Jean, at an unrelated news conference Tuesday, deferred to Horner when asked if he believes the provincial gas tax should be lifted.<\/p>\n

But he added, \u201cAlbertans are generally going to be in a much better position today as a result of what\u2019s happening around the world than other jurisdictions are.\u201d<\/p>\n

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

\t\t\t\tAlberta Premier Danielle Smith and Finance Minister Nate Horner speak before delivering the 2024 budget in Edmonton, Thursday, Feb. 29, 2024. Smith is scheduled to announce her government’s plan to grow the province’s rainy day fund. THE CANADIAN PRESS\/Jason Franson. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"While Prime Minister Mark Carney announced federal measures to give Canadians relief at the pumps Tuesday, Alberta says…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":604448,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[194295],"tags":[49,48,20739],"class_list":{"0":"post-605210","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-ottawa","8":"tag-ca","9":"tag-canada","10":"tag-ottawa"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/605210","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=605210"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/605210\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/604448"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=605210"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=605210"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=605210"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}