Ontario plans to temporarily reduce gasoline and diesel taxes, but the measure won’t take effect until after the June provincial election.
The Progressive Conservative government is set to introduce legislation on Monday that, if passed, would reduce gasoline tax by 5.7 cents per liter and fuel tax ― which includes diesel ― by 5.3 cents per litre, for six months.
The change would take effect on July 1 and end on December 31.
The announcement comes amid soaring prices at the pump across Canada.
“Current supply chain challenges and geopolitical conflicts are driving up the cost of living, from gas to groceries,” Finance Minister Peter Bethlenfalvy said in a statement.
“With these added pressures, families and businesses need extra help to keep costs down. That is why our government is introducing legislation to provide tax relief at the pumps and to put money back in people’s pockets. »
In recent months, Premier Doug Ford has resisted calls to implement such a decision, despite promising to do so in the last election.
One of the Progressive Conservatives’ flagship promises during the 2018 election campaign was to cut gas prices by 10 cents a litre. The party said this would be accomplished by scrapping Ontario’s cap and trade system and reducing the provincial gas tax.
The government effectively ended cap and trade shortly after the election, which was supposed to reduce prices by 4.3 cents per litre, but this caused the federal tax on carbon, canceling out these savings. Ford’s government tried to fight this tax in court, but lost.
Last fall, Mr Ford said he would deliver on his 2018 promise to implement the remaining 5.7 cent cut before the next budget, but backtracked shortly after, saying he would implement such a reduction only if the federal government did something similar.
The date for the budget has yet to be set and the province recently pushed back its deadline to deliver it to April 30.
New Democrats have called for gas price regulation and have introduced a private member’s bill to that effect for the third time. Energy Minister Todd Smith cited studies from the Ontario Energy Board that suggest it won’t actually lower prices.