A person pumps gas at a gas station in Mississauga, Ont., Tuesday, February 13, 2024. (THE CANADIAN PRESS/Christopher Katsarov)
WINNIPEG — Manitoba is cutting the cost of fuel at the pump as early as next week, but also raising it at the same time.
The province announced on Monday that it will bring in a 10 percent cut to the provincial fuel tax, effective January 1, 2025.
“Our government keeps our word. We said we’d cut the fuel tax and we did,” said Premier Wab Kinew, in a release. “We said it would last 12 months and it did. Now we’re going further by bringing in a permanent cut to the fuel tax to make it one of the lowest in Canada.”
The cut comes exactly one year after the province implemented a previous 14-cent gas tax holiday.
The tax holiday caused Manitoba’s inflation rate to be among the lowest in the country, but it was criticized by some as favouring people who drive large, expensive vehicles.
The Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives, a think tank, said the tax cut did nothing to help low-income earners who don’t drive cars and deprived the provincial treasury of more than $300 million a year at a time when the province is running consecutive deficits.
The 12.5 cent per litre fuel tax rate will be applied to gasoline and diesel across the province beginning next Wednesday.
You can always find the lowest Winnipeg gas prices on our website.
— With files from The Canadian Press
