The federal carbon tax is set to rise April 1. How will that affect gas prices?

Gas prices are set to rise by a few cents per litre in some provinces as a carbon tax hike comes into effect, but some argue it's a small factor affecting prices at the pumps.

Gas prices in some provinces are set to rise Friday as the federal carbon tax increases.

The federal carbon tax will increase 25 per cent on April 1, up to a total of $50 per tonne of emissions. At the pump, that works out to an extra 2.2 cents per litre of gas, hitting a total of 11 cents per litre.

The increased cost will hit motorists in Ontario, Alberta, Saskatchewan and Manitoba — provinces without their own carbon pricing schemes in place.

The impending hikes are coming after lower oil prices offered relief for some Canadians at the pump mid-week.

Prices dropped nearly nine cents a litre on Wednesday in the Greater Toronto Area and are set to fall by another penny on Thursday, per fuel price prediction site gaswizard.ca. The site shows similar drops in markets such as Vancouver and Montreal, while prices in Calgary and Edmonton are generally holding steady.

Dan McTeague, who runs Gas Wizard and is also president of Canadians for Affordable Energy, attributes the relative dip in gas prices to the latest round of COVID-19 lockdowns in China hampering predictions of future demand.

The relief could be short-lived, however, as he predicts the rising carbon tax will contribute to an overall jump in prices this weekend in Ontario.

“It looks like gasoline prices will likely be making their way back up as early as Friday, possibly two, three, maybe even a four-cent-a-litre increase back up and into the $1.70 range,” McTeague says.