REGINA, Sask. – The latest hikes in the price of gas have prompted renewed calls from opposition New Democrats again to suspend the provincial 15 cent a litre fuel tax.
The NDP issued a news release Monday morning pointing to GasBuddy.com numbers of fuel prices jumping to $1.85 per litre in Regina, $1.89 in Saskatoon and over $1.90 in a number of other communities. The continuing war in the Middle East is widely blamed for the increase.
“The bottom line is the Sask. Party is raking in additional revenue from surging oil prices while everyday people relying on their vehicles for work, to pick up their kids and so much more are getting squeezed more than they can bear,” said Finance critic Trent Wotherspoon in a statement.
“(Premier) Scott Moe has the audacity to tell people he’s already making their lives more affordable, but everyone we talk to say the basic necessities needed to get by have never been more expensive.”
Transportation and Highways critic Darcy Warrington pointed to the pressure that the high fuel prices are putting on small business owners and the trucking industry.
“These gas prices are brutal for hardworking Saskatchewan people,” Warrington said in a statement. He accused Premier Moe of “banking on the misery of people just trying to get by.”
The higher fuel prices come in spite of the announcement earlier this month that the federal government would be extending the suspension of the federal excise tax into 2027.
Up to now, the provincial government has resisted calls to remove the fuel tax, having said previously that 100 per cent of provincial fuel tax revenue goes to fund Saskatchewan highways and related infrastructure.
Last month, after Wotherspoon had previously called for the fuel tax to be removed due to back to school spending pressures, the government issued a response saying “today, the NDP blamed the premier for the price of gas and called on the government to cut the highways budget by over $500 million. This is why no one takes the NDP seriously… The Government of Saskatchewan does not plan to cut the revenues that keep people safe on our roads and allow for the transportation of the exports our economy relies on."
The NDP latest statements come as the provincial highways ministry commemorates Saskatchewan Transportation Week this week, from Sept. 21 to 27. In a social media video issued Monday morning in commemoration, Highways Minister Kim Gartner noted that the province is "investing approximately $764 million to transportation infrastructure to improve safety, strengthen trade corridors and support economic growth across our province."
