N.B. petroleum retailers make case to replace 8 cent fuel charge that expires Monday
CBC
Oil companies and retailers endured a barrage of pointed questions in front of the New Brunswick Energy and Utilities Board Thursday in their effort to undo a provincial government decision to eliminate refinery environmental charges from fuel prices starting next week.
Board Chair Christopher Stewart pressed David Knight of the Convenience Industry Association of Canada on if he was asking the energy tribunal to effectively change a decision the legislature has already made.
"Isn't that a statement by the legislature," Stewart said about the coming pricing change.
"Isn't it just as simple as that?"
The environmental charges — which allow refiners and fuel importers to pass the cost of tightening federal environmental rules through to consumers — were authorized nearly three years ago by the former Blaine Higgs government.
They currently add up to 7.9 cents per litre for gasoline and 8.8 cents for diesel, plus HST, at New Brunswick gas stations.
New Brunswick Premier Susan Holt has argued oil companies should be paying for their own environmental costs and her government passed legislation to remove the charges from New Brunswick's regulated fuel pricing formula effective Dec. 1.
However, because New Brunswick does not regulate charges between oil companies, wholesalers and retailers and only enforces the final price to consumers, retailers have expressed concern that oil companies will continue to bill them for the federal environmental costs.
If that happens, they argue many stations in rural areas will quickly struggle to survive when seven or eight cents per litre is cut out of what they can pass through to consumers on the first of the month.
Peter Clark, operator of Woodstock fuel supply business Clark Oil, predicted swift consequences in rural areas if businesses like his and those he supplies are unable to recover costs they will still be facing after Dec. 1.
"As an industry and as a private company, I know we cannot sustain this massive price change as of Dec. 1," said Clark.
"We desperately need help from the board."
Retailer Chris Scholten of the Scholten Group made a similar prediction.
"Stores will close, jobs will be lost and people will have to drive further for fuel," he said.
A Calgary dentist who defrauded five insurance companies over a decade should spend up to three years in prison, the prosecution argued Friday.
B.C. Conservation Officer Service says it has called off its search for a bear responsible for an attack on a group of school children in Bella Coola, B.C. on Nov. 20.
The union president called it a rally for solidarity as Iqaluit Housing Authority employees gathered Friday while negotiations are ongoing between the Nunavut Employees Union and the employer.
The federal government is stoking Quebec separatism by walking back its climate commitments — including in its recent deal with Alberta — Liberal MP and former cabinet minister Steven Guilbeault says.
Four more Alberta MLAs are facing recall petitions organized by their constituents, including the first NDP representative to be caught in the province's ongoing wave of recall efforts.
Frank Gehry, the Canadian-born renegade architect behind some of the world's most recognizable buildings, has died at 96.
Hundreds of P.E.I. parents can't find child-care spaces, especially for infants. The provincial government says expanding those spots remains a top priority — and it recognizes the concern.
An Alberta judge says a referendum proposal on Alberta separating from Canada goes against Charter and and Treaty rights, in a decision given less than 24 hours after the provincial government introduced legislation that would have ended the court proceeding.
The architect of Alberta's politician recall legislation says it was never meant to be used as a political weapon, but as an "ultimate tool of accountability" if a politician engages in illegal or unethical behaviour.
The Government of Saskatchewan has introduced its long-promised involuntary treatment legislation on the final day of the fall sitting.
The Law Society of Ontario has suspended the licence of Deepak Paradkar, one of seven Canadians arrested in connection with alleged drug lord Ryan Wedding’s cocaine smuggling ring.
London Health Sciences Centre (LHSC) is getting rid of unlimited mental health benefits for staff, blaming ballooning costs and former administrators for implementing it without proper due diligence or oversight.
Netflix has agreed to buy Warner Bros. Discovery's TV and film studios and streaming division for $72 billion US, a deal that would hand control of one of Hollywood's most prized and oldest assets to the streaming pioneer that has upended the media industry.