Drivers look for relief at the pump after B.C. ends consumer carbon tax

British Columbia drivers looked to the gas pumps Tuesday for a sign of tax relief after the early-morning approval of legislation that ended the province’s consumer carbon tax after 17 years.

The NDP government fast-tracked the bill in an effort to kill off the tax in time to coincide with the demise of the federal version of the levy on April 1, though it was around 1:30 a.m. Tuesday before it finally passed third reading in the legislature.

Premier David Eby had said Monday drivers could expect gas prices to fall by about 17 cents a litre with the end of the tax.

But some drivers who delayed getting fuel were disappointed when they stopped at the pump on Tuesday.

Shyam Iyer said he intentionally waited to fill up his car, but didn’t see any savings at the downtown Vancouver Esso where the price was about $1.78 per litre.

“We are not getting anything out of this carbon-tax reduction. It’s just that the fuel company is earning out of it. What will the end user do?” he said.

Iyer said gas prices had recently been in the $1.70 range before climbing over $1.90, then dropping again on Tuesday.

“I’m a user who usually fills up on gas every week. I wait (until) Sundays, that’s the cheapest day, but now, it’s the same thing. I would have not waited.”

Another driver, Feray Tess, was also expecting a carbon tax discount.

“I was going to fill it up last night as I was going to my friend’s house, and when I heard the news I said, ‘No, you know what, I’ll wait until tomorrow, see what happens,'” she said, while filling up her Toyota RAV4.

“I mean it’s a little bit cheaper, but it’s still high, you know,” she said, adding she had noticed a price of $1.90 per litre at another station in the area on Monday.

The GasBuddy price-tracking website indicated the lowest price in Metro Vancouver was about $1.81 at 4 p.m. on Monday, while at about 4 p.m. Tuesday it was just under $1.68 at a station in Surrey.

Eby has said the province’s utilities commission has the authority to uncover price gouging and B.C. residents expect the price difference to show up at the pumps.

The BC Utilities Commission said it will monitor the market to determine whether fuel companies are passing on savings to customers.

The commission looks at numerous factors, including taxes, the price of crude oil and markups by fuel wholesalers and gas stations, CEO Mark Jaccard said on Tuesday.

Global politics and domestic policy may also play a role, he said, pointing to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and the completion of the TransMountain pipeline expansion, which carries petroleum products from Alberta to the B.C. coast.

The retail margin at gas stations tends to be “quite small,” amounting to somewhere in the range of about two to four cents per litre, he noted.

B.C.’s Fuel Price Transparency Act allows the commission to collect data from wholesalers, which it uses to compare what’s happening in the province against jurisdictions such as Alberta and Washington.

Jaccard said the commission will pay close attention to wholesale margins during its review of price changes coinciding with the end of the consumer carbon tax.

“That’s where we can really compare what’s going on in other jurisdictions. Do they have the same issues or does this look like strategic behaviour?” he said in an interview.

“We call it the unexplained margin,” he said. “If that’s big or even if it’s substantive at all, that’s something we’re going to report on, and we’ll be quite vocal about that.”

Energy company FortisBC has also said it was removing the carbon tax from customers’ gas bills starting Tuesday for fuel consumed after that date.

A statement from the company said the removal of the tax will amount to savings of just over 23 per cent, or about $29.89, on the average customer’s monthly bill.

The final vote to end the tax came about 15 hours after Finance Minister Brenda Bailey proposed the bill to the legislature.

Speaker Raj Chouhan noted the marathon debate when sitting resumed at 10 a.m. Tuesday, suggesting that coffee be served to legislators instead of water.

“If you want to sleep through question period you are most welcome,” Chouhan said to laughter from MLAs.

The vote marked the end of a tax that had been in place since 2008, when B.C. became the first jurisdiction in North America to adopt a broad-based carbon levy.

Eby said Monday that it played an important role for many years, but it became a “toxic” issue as a result of campaigns by the B.C. and federal Conservative parties.

He said his government would continue to ensure big industrial emitters pay through the province’s output-based carbon-pricing system.

Conservative Opposition Leader John Rustad issued a statement Tuesday declaring “victory” after the elimination of the tax.

“Let’s be clear: David Eby didn’t scrap the carbon tax because he wanted to — he did it because he was forced to,” said Rustad, who on Monday called on the premier to commit to removing the industrial carbon levy as well.

The tax bill passed its final reading without the need for a formal vote, though two BC Green MLAs had voted against it upon the second reading.

Jeremy Valeriote, the Greens’ interim leader, issued a statement Tuesday saying the NDP government’s “flip-flop” on the tax “(follows) the lead of the Conservatives who flirt with climate change denial.”

The province has indicated cancelling the tax and the associated climate action credit will have an estimated impact of $1.99 billion in the coming fiscal year.

Asked about the shortfall, Eby said Monday that his government would look at the CleanBC climate action initiative, part of a review of all government programs.

Valeriote said the Greens would “lean heavily” into the CleanBC review.

“We will fight for a B.C. that can call itself a climate leader again,” he said.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published April 1, 2025.

Brenna Owen, The Canadian Press