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Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre is calling on the government to temporarily pause federal taxes on gas and diesel for the remainder of the year.
Poilievre held a news conference at an Ottawa gas station on Thursday to outline his suggestion, which would temporarily lift the GST and excise tax on diesel and gasoline.
Poilievre said this would save about 25 cents a litre on gas, and called on the government to pay for what he said was the $5.25 billion cost of such a tax cut by cutting wasteful spending.
The Conservative leader’s proposal comes as the war in the Middle East has caused a spike in gas prices in Canada and around the world, generally.
Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre called for a federal tax holiday on fuel, eliminating the Fuel Excise Tax, the Clean Fuel Standard and the Goods and Services Tax in a move the party says would cost the government $5.25 billion this year. ‘Every penny that we can get reduced in taxes is a penny in the pockets of the people who earned it,’ Poilievre said.
But Poilievre pointed out Thursday that gas prices in Canada are about 28 cents higher in Canadian dollars than in the U.S.
“You cannot explain that through global factors alone,” he said. “The recent increase in gas prices is the result of the war in Iran, but the long-term high costs in Canada are the result of Liberal taxes.”
Asked earlier this week whether the federal government would cut federal taxes on fuel, Prime Minister Mark Carney said his government is monitoring gas prices closely and suggested an upcoming fiscal update would have more details.
“We’re following it closely in the context of fiscal realities, other measures we’ve taken to improve affordability, the persistence of the potential higher gas price … so we have to take all of that into account,” he said on Tuesday.
“We’ll have a fiscal event in the spring with a spring update and that would be the right time to fully answer that question.”
No date has been released for that fiscal update.
Other countries, such as Australia and Ireland, have reduced taxes on fuel in response to the spike in energy prices.
Poilievre made a similar call for a fuel tax holiday heading into the summer of 2024, after gas prices had spiked in parts of the country.
Poilievre to update Carney on U.S. trip
Poilievre said he and Carney are due to speak Thursday or Friday about Poilievre’s recent trip to the U.S.
Poilievre said he spoke with Carney before he left for his trip and that he sent Carney short updates via text message about the meetings he was having with American politicians and business leaders.
“I think it’s today or tomorrow we’re supposed to speak on the phone, and I’m going to give him a greater update — when it’s convenient for both of us we’ll sit down and I’ll give him some information,” he said.
Poilievre visited Detroit, Texas and New York on the trip, which included an appearance on the popular Joe Rogan podcast.
“We as Canadians have a common objective here. We want tariff-free trade with our biggest customer,” Poilievre said.