Canada faces calls to scrap fuel taxes as petrol prices surge

Canada is facing mounting pressure to suspend fuel taxes as petrol prices climb sharply, with the Canadian Taxpayers Federation (CTF) urging both federal and provincial authorities to act.

The organisation said many households were already struggling before the latest spike in fuel costs, warning that higher petrol prices are further squeezing living standards, Caliber.Az reports per foreign media.

“The least they could do would be just temporarily suspend their fuel taxes,” said Franco Terrazzano, federal director of the CTF. Ideally, he’d like to see those tax cuts be permanent.

“There are many Canadians out there who were already struggling, and now that you see these gas prices soaring, it’s making life more expensive,” he said.

According to the federation, combined federal and provincial levies can add as much as 65 cents per litre to petrol prices in some regions.

Official figures show that the price of the cheapest petrol grade, 87 octane, started at around C$1.39 per litre in February but rose to approximately C$1.78 per litre in March, depending on the region.

Media reports have linked the surge in prices in part to disruptions in global oil flows, including shipping constraints through the Strait of Hormuz, a key route for energy supplies.

The Canadian government has so far limited its response to monitoring the situation, offering no immediate policy measures to ease the burden on consumers.