Nova Scotians have been on a price roller-coaster at the pumps this summer. “You never know day-to-day,” Ron Corrigan says as he fills up at an Ultramar station in Halifax. Since Canada Day, gasoline prices have changed 12 times with five of those adjustments coming after the Nova Scotia Energy Board used the interrupter clause. Over that time in Halifax, pump prices have ranged from a low of 168.9 cents per litre to a high of 192.6 cents a litre for self-serve. On Monday, gas sold for 181.4 cents per litre. “I pay a lot of attention. I know it’s being affected by events happening overseas. It always seems to be going up with speculation,” says Corrigan. “If you gotta fill up, you gotta fill up. But yeah, I try to get the cheap gas like everybody else.” Diesel costs are even higher with minimum prices sitting at 238.6 cents per litre. Some stations however are opting for the maximum price of 241.5 cents per litre. “Because the fuel tax also makes diesel more expensive, it makes trucking more expensive, which makes everything that is trucked to the store shelves more expensive for Canadians,” says Franco Terrazzano, the federal director of the Canadian Taxpayers Federation. That’s why the consumer group wants provincial leaders to give motorists a break at the pumps. “We’re calling on all premiers, including Houston, to do their part to cut provincial gas taxes,” says Terrazzano. There’s a role for the federal government too. Prime Minister Mark Carney suspended the fuel tax in April. The move was temporary and is set to kick back in on Sept. 8 and the Canadian Taxpayers Federation is asking for the gas tax relief to be extended. For more Nova Scotia news, visit our dedicated provincial page
