Alberta Premier Jason Kenney says he will ask Canada’s Competition Bureau to investigate “potential gas price fixing” in the province amid concerns that motorists are no longer seeing the benefits of reduced government fuel tax.
This spring, the UCP government cut the provincial tax from 13 cents per liter in an attempt to give consumers a break as pump prices soared to historic levels.
But Kenney said in a statement Friday that over the past 10 days, “the gas price advantage that Albertans have enjoyed relative to other provinces has disappeared and it now appears that Albertans are no longer benefiting from the reduction in ‘taxes’.
“As I said when we announced this move in March, we will not allow any games to be played with this,” the prime minister said in a statement.
Kenney said he met Friday with the Canadian Fuels Association, which represents the country’s transportation fuel industry, “to demand an explanation” of why this has happened.
“Albertans deserve to know”
An official with the association told CBC News it did not have a spokesperson available to discuss the matter on Friday.
Kenney said he had also spoken to the competition office about the situation. Under the Competition Act, he said, it is illegal for competitors to agree to fix prices.
“Albertans deserve to know if this is happening,” he said, adding that he has told Service Alberta to find out if there are any tools the province can use under its Consumer Protection Act.
Premier Jason Kenney, seen here filling up his truck in a file photo, says Albertans are frustrated with gas prices. (Jason Kenney/Facebook)
University of Calgary economist Trevor Tombe has also been watching gas prices in the province. He said it’s important to remember that gas prices go up and down for all kinds of reasons.
“For the first few months after the April 1 gas tax cut, it seemed like it was basically totally passed on to consumers,” Tombe told CBC News.
“But in the last few days, actually over the last two weeks or so, that gap between where Alberta is and where you think it would have been if the tax hadn’t been cut, they’ve converged on each other. And so it seems . as if the tax were not being passed on to the same degree as before.”
Tombe said the new development is puzzling, but he doesn’t think it’s because of rising prices or a lack of competition among retail stations.
“I don’t think those explanations hold any water,” he said.
“If you look at diesel, for example, I’m still finding that the diesel tax cut is totally being passed on to consumers there. So it’s not obvious that it’s a lack of competition or corporate greed or a price hike or nothing like that. . But it’s a mystery.”
He said one explanation he’s heard, one he calls “potentially plausible,” is a shortage of ethanol, which is blended with gasoline, adding to station costs and those costs being passed on to consumers.
Earlier in the day, Alberta NDP energy critic Kathleen Ganley took aim at the province.
“I asked the UCP to take action to prevent this in April, and they didn’t,” he said in a statement, charging that the fuel tax cut was adding to profit margins of gas stations
“Albertans are now paying 13 cents a liter more to fill up than they should be, just as many families prepare for summer road trips.”