Gas prices set to change when excise tax pause expires — what to know

Gas prices remain elevated worldwide in the fallout from the Iran war and some temporary relief at the pumps for Canadian consumers is set to end next month when the fuel excise tax pause expires. It is not yet clear if the federal government plans to extend the pause, but if it does expire next month, then it could wind up costing even more to fill up.Ottawa launched the temporary measure in April, which removed the federal excise tax from retail gas in Canada until Sept. 7.“Clearly the removal of the federal excise tax took some of the sting away from these higher prices,” says Dan McTeague, president of Canadians for Affordable Energy.“The effect has been to, I think, provide at least some mitigating factors in terms of higher prices but it hasn’t been able to hold back the stampede towards higher prices that have cascaded into the rest of the economy.” Story continues below advertisement The Iran war severely constrained global oil supplies, with the Strait of Hormuz shipping channel in the Persian Gulf region, which normally sees about a fifth of the world’s crude oil and other supplies, essentially closed to cargo traffic for fear of attacks. That’s on top of significant dama...