Alberta premier waiting to see the numbers before making decision on suspension of fuel tax

The premier said there will be more news about the gas tax after the middle of the month.

Albertans continue to feel the pinch at the grocery store and gas pumps and there was no news from the premier about the possibility of temporarily suspending the provincial gas tax Saturday.

On her radio program, Your Province, Your Premier, Smith told host Wayne Nelson that the best bet for a break at the pumps would be a resolution to the conflict over the Strait of Hormuz.

Smith pointed out that Prime Minister Mark Carney has already temporarily suspended the federal fuel tax, but said she suspected that the war in Iran has prevented people from noticing that 10 cent a litre reduction.

Alberta also has a fuel tax exemption program but Smith says they’re still waiting to see if the numbers hit the threshold for it to kick in.

“[We’re] still monitoring for three more days,” she said. “The window that we monitor is from mid-May to mid-June, so we’ll have an announcement next week and once we see where that number landed for the month.

The fuel tax relief program is supposed to apply when the price of West Texas Intermediate averages above $90 a barrel. That average is determining by looking at the 20 trading days leading up to the 16th day of the month preceding the start of the next quarter, according to the province.

Gas in Calgary was hovering a little under $1.60 a litre Saturday.

Smith is cautiously optimistic the federal government’s initiative to encourage food processing at the local levels, eliminating some shipping costs, will help bring food prices down.