Ontario drivers to see higher prices at the pumps amid carbon tax increase

Ontario drivers should expect to see a surge in gas prices this month due to the carbon tax increase.

Ontario drivers should expect to see a surge in gas prices this month due to the carbon tax increase.

As of April 1, the price on carbon pollution in Canada went up by $15 per tonne. For gasoline, the tax will be 17.6 cents per litre, up about 3.3 cents per litre.

Diesel will go up about 4 cents per litre.

In Toronto, this means that prices at the pumps could go up to $1.62 per litre today, according to GasWizard.ca.

Carbon pricing is part of the of the federal government’s plan to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and is set to increase each year until 2030. Provinces and territories either had to adopt their own levy on these emissions or they would be subject to the federal pricing model.

Ontario has chosen to not implement its own carbon pricing system. Premier Doug Ford has been vocal about his disdain for the policy, arguing it’s “the worst tax ever put on a bunch of people.”

In his 2024 budget, Ford extended the province’s gas and fuel tax rate cut, a temporary measure his government put into place in 2022 to combat the price increases, until the end of the year.