Prime Minister Mark Carney says the federal government is looking at how to support Canadians as oil prices rise amid the ongoing war in the Middle East.
Oil prices have surged since the U.S. and Israel attacked Iran on Feb. 28. The Canadian Automobile Association gas price tracker said on Tuesday prices across Canada averaged more than $1.80 per litre, compared with about $1.32 a year ago and $1.51 on March 7.
Carney said at a press conference on Tuesday that his government wants to help "cushion the blow" for Canadians.
"There's a global market and those countries that have lots of oil and gas see their prices go up alongside with those who don't have that oil and gas, it's the same shifts up in prices in the United States as well," Carney said Tuesday.
"The question becomes, and this is what the government's focused on, is how long is this going to persist and what can we do to help cushion the blow for Canadians, and that's something we're looking at."
The conflict has cut off flows of crude through the critical Strait of Hormuz and shut down energy production across parts of the Middle East. About one-fifth of the world's oil supply comes through that strait, which connects the Persian Gulf to the Gulf of Oman, and then the Arabian Sea.
Conservatives have called on the Liberals to give Canadians some relief at the pumps by suspending federal taxes on gas and diesel for the rest of the year.
Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre said last week lifting the fuel excise tax, clean fuel standard and GST surcharges from gas and diesel would save consumers about 25 cents a litre.
That cut, he said, would amount to savings of "about $20 a fill-up, and $1,200 for the average family of four between now and the end of the year."
Picture Courtesy: THE CANADIAN PRESS/Christinne Muschi
