(Quebec) Canada’s Competition Bureau must investigate the gasoline market in the Quebec region, according to Energy Minister Pierre Fitzgibbon. Prices there are higher than in “almost all other regions of Quebec”.
This notice will be sent to the Competition Bureau to “help it in this investigation”, specified Mr. Fitzgibbon, who is exceptionally summoning the bosses of the five main gasoline retailers in the Capitale-Nationale region – Couche-Tard, Pétroles Cadeko (subsidiary of Groupe F. Dufresne), Harnois Énergies, Costco Wholesale Canada and Sobeys. He wants explanations.
In its opinion, the Régie makes several observations. The estimated retail margins at gas stations in the Capitale-Nationale have been above the average for the rest of Quebec since 2021. They went from 4.37 cents per liter in 2018 to nearly 15 cents per liter in 2023. Only “three regions had higher estimated retail margins, namely Nord-du-Québec, Côte-Nord and Bas-Saint-Laurent”.
Market share
“The market share held by the five main players in the retail sale of gasoline in the National Capital has gained ten percentage points since 2019, to stand at 84% of sales volumes in 2022. In the rest in Quebec, the five main players account for 70% of sales volumes,” we add.
In the future, Mr. Fitzgibbon also hopes that the Régie de l’énergie, “which publishes the margins of gas stations every Friday in its Information Bulletin on the prices of petroleum products, will make it easier to locate this information for all Quebec “.