Carbon tax: Quebecers will be the only ones to pay 18 cents more for gasoline

Following the announcement of the elimination of the federal carbon tax by new Prime Minister Marc Carney and the announced withdrawal of British Columbia, Quebec will be the only province to impose it on its motorists.

Quebec will be a separate society at the pump too. Ottawa recently announced its intention to withdraw carbon pricing for consumers, which could give them a break of around 18 cents as of April 1, according to a Desjardins study.

Quebec and British Columbia have their own carbon tax systems, but the western province has announced its intention to abolish it. This would leave Quebec alone among the provinces.

The carbon tax in Quebec, which adds some 13 cents per liter at the pump, is passed on to Quebec consumers by the oil companies and hidden in the wholesale price of gasoline.

According to Desjardins, the removal of the pollution charge will reduce the cost by around $0.18 per liter on April 1 in the provinces where it is applied. “We expect the average price of gasoline to fall to $1.44 per liter on April 1, from $1.56,” the economists wrote in a note published Tuesday.

For the current fiscal year, 2024-2025, provincial Finance Minister Eric Girard estimates that he will raise $1.5 billion from the auction of greenhouse gas emission rights (the equivalent of the federal carbon tax), according to Journal de Montréal columnist Michel Girard.