On the same day the Ontario government introduced an extension on their tax cut on fuel costs, the price of gas in parts of northwestern Ontario began to drop – but we’re still paying the highest price across the province.
As of November 15, GasBuddy is reporting that fuel stations in Kenora are charging 189.9 per litre – a slight drop from the 192.9 per litre we’ve been paying since September 27, 2022.
Despite the drop, that’s still the highest price across all of Ontario and the 12th highest price across Canada, behind 11 communities from British Columbia.
This is also the first price drop for Kenora drivers in nearly two months. Strangely, Ontario’s average fuel price changed 37 times within that same time frame, as reported by GasBuddy, but price fluctuations were not seen at all throughout the region.
Elsewhere, drivers in Dryden are still paying a region-low of 177.9 per litre and drivers in Sioux Lookout are paying as high as 194.0 per litre. This all comes as the Thunder Bay area reports the least expensive fuel prices in all of Canada at 125.9 per litre.
The highest recorded price the region has ever seen was in 2022 when prices hit 223.9 per litre in June. When 2022 began, we were paying about 146.9 per litre – just below 2021’s record price of 154.9 per litre.
With fuel prices continuing to skyrocket in 2022, the Ontario government has shared plans to help reduce drivers’ costs throughout 2023. In Ontario’s 2022 Fall Economic Statement, they laid out legislation that would, if passed, extend Ontario’s current gas and fuel tax rate cuts to the end of 2023.
The proposed extension would save Ontario households an average of $195 between July 1, 2022 and December 31, 2023. The extension follows legislation passed this spring that cut the provincial gas tax by 5.7 cents per litre and the fuel tax by 5.3 cents per litre from July 2022 to December 31, 2022.
If the legislation passes, Ontario’s tax rate on gas and diesel would remain at 9 cents per litre.