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.

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.

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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.

The cut slashes the gasoline tax by 5.7 cents per litre, and the fuel tax by 5.3 cents per litre. Ford’s government anticipates the tax rate cut has saved Ontario households an average of $320 over the last two and a half years since it was first introduced in 2022.

The gas and fuel tax rate cut has also cost the provincial government over a billion dollars in taxpayer funds.

It’s important to note that the federal government also offers a rebate to offset the cost of the carbon tax on consumers. Officials say that in Ontario a single individual may receive about $140 back when their taxes are filed.

• Carbon pricing 101: What the 2024 increase could mean for you

CTV News Political Analyst Scott Reid told Newstalk1010’s Moore in the Morning Monday that while most households will come out net positive following the rebate, the perception of the carbon tax increase is a negative one.

“It looks and feels like you're getting jammed at a time when cost of living is already weighing heavily on people,” he said. “Nobody ever got elected raising taxes. This is just a stone cold reality.”