N.B. gas retailers warn closures to come with carbon adjuster’s removal

Some New Brunswick gas stations are at risk of closing due to the removal of the carbon adjuster.

Fuel retailers in New Brunswick are warning of gas stations shutting down following the provincial government’s announcement to remove the carbon adjuster cost on fuel prices starting Dec. 1.

“Quite frankly, I’m confused, I’m frustrated and I’m very anxious,” said Chris Scholten, owner of nine gas stations across New Brunswick. “We still have to pay the carbon tax to our suppliers, so that leaves retailers being squeezed. And at the rates today, after credit charges, we’re going to be selling below cost come Dec. 1. That’s how quick it happens.”

On Thursday, Premier Susan Holt said her government would deliver on a key election promise and remove the carbon adjuster next month, adding it could save the average New Brunswick family between $150 and $200 a year.

Holt said it would be up to the province’s Energy and Utilities Board (EUB) to protect gas retailers.

“We have done our due diligence...we’ve given everyone time to be heard,” said Holt on Thursday. “We will continue to make sure the EUB does their job.”

New Brunswick fuel retailers provided a joint statement on Thursday, saying the carbon adjuster’s removal could threaten the closure of up to 25 per cent of gas stations across the province – particularly small, independent and rural retailers.

In a statement, Irving Oil said removing the carbon adjuster would immediately have a negative impact on businesses and consumers.

“At a time when energy security and domestic economies are impacted by the threat of tariffs and geopolitical uncertainty, this decision will only add to these pressures,” said Katherine d’Entremont, Irving Oil’s manager of corporate communications, in a statement.

While carbon fuel regulations are enforced by the federal government, the former Progressive Conservative government under Blaine Higgs changed legislation in December 2022 to pass the extra cost to consumers. The former PC government said gas stations were at risk of closing without the legislation.

“You have to trust the people who are in the industry,” said interim Progressive Conservative leader Glen Savoie on Friday. “If retailers are telling you that they are going to close because gas will be unprofitable, in other words that they will lose money on fuel, they can’t sustain their operations.”

The provincial government first introduced legislation last November to remove the carbon adjuster by the end of 2024, before putting it on pause due to concerns about gas stations closing.

Green Party Leader David Coon said the government “didn’t do the other piece of work necessary to ensure gas stations could stay in business” between then and now.

“Ideally, the refineries should be the ones absorbing the costs of complying with federal environmental regulations,” said Coon. “But there’s no way to force them to do that. So instead, the retailers, the small gas stations, are being required to absorb those costs. And that’s not fair.”

CTV News Atlantic, and other members of the New Brunswick Press Gallery, asked to speak with Premier Holt and other cabinet ministers on several topics Friday, including removal of the carbon adjustor.

Reporters were initially told by government communications staff that Holt would appear for a scrum. A few minutes later reporters were told Holt wouldn’t be appearing because no reporter had made a request to ask questions about the premier’s throne speech reply from earlier in the morning.

-With files from CTV News Atlantic’s Laura Brown

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