EDMONTON – Premier Danielle Smith said she does not plan to waive Alberta's 13-cent fuel prior to July, saying previous steps from her government are enough to help families who are struggling with the financial burdens caused by the surge in oil prices. "Remember, this has been elevated prices for a matter of weeks," said Smith on Wednesday in repsonse to a question from the Western Standard. "We're still in last year's budget year. I think the finance minister has done a calculation, and based on the quarter that we're in, it doesn't trigger the program." The global energy market has faced high stress in March, as the U.S. and Israel's war with Iran led to a blockage of the Straight of Hormuz, through which travel 21 million barrels of oil per day. This has led to a spike in oil prices, with WTI jumping from $71.23 per barrel on March 2 to an average of over $90 throughout the month and topping out at $98.71 on March 13. .Alberta's fuel tax is 13 cents/litre at the pump, and in 2024, they introduced legislation to temporarily waive the tax, partially or fully, depending on the average per-barrel price over the most recent three-month quarter of the fiscal year. Albertans have been calling on Smith to waive the fuel tax for weeks; however, she has consistently refused to do so. The fuel tax relief legislation requires an average oil price of $90 per barrel over a three-month period to trigger full tax relief. It also states that those averages will only be calculated at the end of a fiscal quarter, and the cycle resets with each new quarter. "But let's be clear, we haven't even started the next budget year," Smith said. "At the moment, we are we still had a significant deficit that we were likely going to run this year because prices have been so low.""So, I'm more of the view that, 'let's realize surpluses before we spend them,’ rather than, ‘let's hope that we have them and then end up putting yourself in a worse situation.' So, we'll monitor it to see if there are other things that we can do to address some of the affordability issues that people have."With oil prices averaging around $60 per barrel throughout much of the final 2025 fiscal quarter, which ends on April 1, the next opportunity to waive the tax is not expected until July. .The Canadian Taxpayer Federation became the latest group to call on Smith to oppose the legislation on Tuesday, urging her to recognize the severity of the price spike and provide Albertans with some relief at the pumps. "Oil prices have been over $90 USD since March 6, and taxpayers are getting hit now,” said CTF Alberta director Kris Sims, urging the province to act immediately rather than wait months for the formula to catch up.CTF said suspending the fuel tax now would provide immediate relief to Albertans facing rising costs, while critics of the fuel tax have argued the current structure leaves drivers exposed to sudden price increases due to what they describe as arbitrary timing rules.Smith claims waiving the fuel tax would save families only $200 annually, and her government already provided relief by eliminating the federal carbon tax, saving 17.6 cents per litre, and cutting personal income tax, saving families $750-$1,500 per year. "We think that the $1,500 tax break enables them to not only address those pressures, but any other pressures that might come," Smith said. "So, we're going to continue to monitor it, and if there's additional remedies that we've got to put in place for those who might be suffering extreme hardship, we've done that in the past, and we'll have to see if there's more that we can do now, but no plan to change it for this quarter." .As for Alberta's forecasted $4.1 billion deficit for the 2025 fiscal year and projected $9.4 billion deficit with oil budgeted at $60.5 per barrel in 2026, Smith said it is too early to know the impact March's spike will have on those figures. "So, we're waiting to see how this ends up settling out," Smith said. "We're hoping it settles out fast." "The long term, average price for oil, up until a few weeks ago, was expected to be around $60 to $65, so we just have to make sure that we're not making decisions today that are going to exacerbate the problem that we have around deficits."
