Conservatives call for zero tax on gas to save Canadians 25 cents per litre, $20 per fill up and $1,200 a year for a family of four
Mississauga, ON – Conservatives renewed calls to scrap all federal gas and diesel taxes for the rest of the year, after the Liberal government agreed only to cancel a third of the taxes for a third of the year.
The call comes days after Statistics Canada reported that Canada again has the worst food inflation in the G7, a year after Liberal Prime Minister Mark Carney took office promising affordable groceries.
Even after the brief suspension of the fuel excise tax, Canadians are still paying 14.7 per cent more than Americans at the pump because of Canada’s weak dollar and higher fuel taxes.
“After 11 years of Liberal taxes and inflationary deficits, everything costs more,” said Poilievre. “Mothers must turn back items at the grocery checkout because their bank accounts are empty. Mark Carney said he would reverse all the Liberal policies that he had supported for the prior decade.”
“But nothing has changed. Everything is worse,” Poilievre added. “More costs. More crime. More corruption. More of the same. Mark Carney is just another Liberal.”
That’s why today, Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre called once again for the government to suspend all taxes on fuel until the end of 2026, over three weeks after he initially demanded they do so.
“Everything else becomes affordable when energy is affordable,” Poilievre said. “After the Liberals followed our lead by briefly suspending just the Fuel Excise Tax, we are calling on the government to adopt our full plan, permanently end the new carbon tax (renamed the Fuel Standard) and the GST on gas and diesel for the rest of the year.”
Even with this short-term pause on the excise tax, Canadians still pay roughly 14.7 per cent more for gas than Americans. Other Western countries like Germany and Ireland, as well as multiple US states, have reduced or suspended gas taxes.
If fully implemented, the Opposition plan could save Canadians up to 15 cents more per litre than the present Liberal plan. Last week, the Mark Carney Liberals voted down a motion calling on them to do so.
Poilievre proposes the government make up the $3 billion lost revenue by cutting government spending on consultants, corporate welfare, foreign aid and benefits for fraudulent refugee claimants. He also proposes to cancel the $90 billion Alto rail proposal.
“We want a country where Canadians don’t have to choose between a full grocery cart and a full tank of gas,” Poilievre concluded. “By doing what is in our power to lower prices at the pump, we can make everything Canadians buy more affordable.”
Conservatives will always fight for cheap and abundant energy, including by scrapping growth-killing Liberal laws and rapidly permitting oil, gas and electricity projects that increase the Loonie’s purchasing power and create a more prosperous and affordable Canada for all.