Poilievre will do 'anything to win,' must condemn Alex Jones endorsement: Trudeau
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau is ramping up his attacks on Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre as he promotes his government's federal budget.
The Canada Day long weekend saw gas prices plummet in parts of the country, but the relief at the pumps may not stay for very long, analysts say.
According to GasWizard.ca, prices in the Greater Toronto Area and Ottawa fell by 11 cents a litre on Friday and dropped again by six cents on Saturday, settling in at 187.9 cents a litre.
Gas prices in Montreal also saw a six cent drop on Saturday after a four cent decline on Friday. In Vancouver, prices dropped seven cents on Friday and by another seven cents on Saturday. Winnipeg and Halifax also saw a three cent drop in gas prices on Canada Day while prices in those regions held steady on Saturday.
The decreases come after crude oil prices slid in June following the U.S. Federal Reserve's interest rate hikes, sparking fears of a recession.
"Panicking markets, I think, is probably the best way to describe it. A bit of overzealousness in terms of concerns about recession and demand destruction," GasWizard founder and president of Canadians for Affordable Energy Dan McTeague told CTVNews.ca in a telephone interview on Saturday.
In Ontario, which saw the most steepest declines in gas prices, the slump in oil prices coincided with the provincial government's temporary 5.7-cent per litre gas tax cut. Other provinces have already cut gas taxes, including Alberta and Newfoundland and Labrador.
Despite the tax cut, Roger McKnight, chief petroleum analyst at En-Pro International, says gas prices in Canada largely follow what's happening in the U.S., where there continues to be a large discrepancy between supply and demand.
"Prices in Canada aren't made in Canada. They really follow whatever happens to the wholesale price in the United States. And in that regard, we have a situation where the crude inventories are down 13 per cent versus the five-year average. Gasoline down eight and diesel down 20," he told CTV News Channel on Saturday.
While OPEC had pledged to boost output, the group has failed to meet its targets as Libya and Nigeria slowed production in June, Reuters reported. Earlier this week, French President Emmanuel Macron told U.S. President Joe Biden that Saudi Arabia and the U.A.E. were already producing at capacity.
"I think the reality is that we were still no better than we were months ago, which is that supply of fuel remains challenging and demand is not slacking," McTeague said.
Facing the pressure from voters ahead of the U.S. midterm elections this fall, Biden has been urging domestic oil companies to ramp up production, while putting pressure on Gulf countries to boost supply. The White House is also considering expanding offshore oil drilling in the Gulf of Mexico.
"[Biden's] scrambling to look for a secure supply or a steady supply of crude, and that's a long shot," McKnight said.
McKnight says he expects a five cent increase in gas prices by Monday and says it's unclear which direction prices are going to go this summer.
"It's very difficult to say," McKnight said. "There's 16 factors that go into the price of a litre of gasoline and if any one of those changes, that changes the whole picture"
But McTeague predicts gas prices are only going to go up from here over the next two months, saying the difference between supply and demand won’t resolve anytime soon.
"What we saw here last week was a bit of a head fake... and not a reflection of fundamentals," he said. "It's pretty clear that there will be much higher prices come July and into August.”
With files from Reuters.
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau is ramping up his attacks on Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre as he promotes his government's federal budget.
A Winnipeg man said a single date gone wrong led to years of criminal harassment, false arrests, stress and depression.
Ukraine for the first time has begun using long-range ballistic missiles provided secretly by the United States, bombing a Russian military airfield in Crimea last week and Russian forces in another occupied area overnight, American officials said Wednesday.
New video evidence uncovered by CNN significantly undermines two Pentagon investigations into an ISIS-K suicide attack outside Kabul airport, during the American withdrawal from Afghanistan in 2021.
A Toronto couple are speaking out about their 'extremely dangerous' experience on board a sinking tour boat in the Dominican Republic last week.
There are 63 wildfires burning in Alberta's forest protection area as of Wednesday morning and seven mutual aid fires, including one in the Municipal District of Peace.
The Edmonton Police Service has released a number of surveillance videos related to a series of extortion cases in the city now dubbed 'Project Gaslight.'
Arrests have been made after five men were captured on video rampaging through a jewelry store in Toronto, waving weapons and smashing glass display cases.
A Polish pilot proposed to his flight attendant girlfriend during a flight from Warsaw to Krakow, and she said yes.
A property tax bill is perplexing a small townhouse community in Fergus, Ont.
When identical twin sisters Kim and Michelle Krezonoski were invited to compete against some of the world’s most elite female runners at last week’s Boston Marathon, they were in disbelief.
The giant stone statues guarding the Lions Gate Bridge have been dressed in custom Vancouver Canucks jerseys as the NHL playoffs get underway.
A local Oilers fan is hoping to see his team cut through the postseason, so he can cut his hair.
A family from Laval, Que. is looking for answers... and their father's body. He died on vacation in Cuba and authorities sent someone else's body back to Canada.
A former educational assistant is calling attention to the rising violence in Alberta's classrooms.
The federal government says its plan to increase taxes on capital gains is aimed at wealthy Canadians to achieve “tax fairness.”
At 6'8" and 350 pounds, there is nothing typical about UBC offensive lineman Giovanni Manu, who was born in Tonga and went to high school in Pitt Meadows.
Kevin the cat has been reunited with his family after enduring a harrowing three-day ordeal while lost at Toronto Pearson International Airport earlier this week.