![\"Gas](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/e57fea00f96b5060e5d0021fb505d127.jpeg\"\/)
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Gas prices in Quebec are among the highest in the country. (CBC – image credit)<\/p>\n
When Prime Minister Mark Carney\u2019s temporary suspension of the federal fuel excise tax went into effect on Monday \u2014 aiming to lower gas prices by about 10 cents a litre across Canada \u2014 not everyone in Quebec was thrilled about it.<\/p>\n
In fact, despite Quebecers paying among the highest fuel prices in North America, some experts told CBC they think the federal government\u2019s fuel tax reprieve<\/a> is a terrible idea.<\/p>\n Others believe it was absolutely the right thing to do. And there are those who’d like to see Quebec Premier Christine Fr\u00e9chette follow suit.<\/p>\n Here\u2019s how the debate is breaking down.<\/p>\n \u2018A very bad policy\u2019<\/p>\n For Hadrian Mertins-Kirkwood, a senior researcher in Climate & AI for the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives (CCPA), the politics of the move make sense in the short term; but not necessarily the policy.<\/p>\n He and other policy experts believe there are better solutions that could have been used to alleviate Canadians\u2019 affordability concerns, which have been exacerbated by the U.S. and Israel\u2019s war with Iran.<\/p>\n \u201cIf you\u2019re really concerned [about] gas prices,\u201d Mertins-Kirkwood said, \u201cyou could put a cap on gas prices and force the oil companies to eat the difference.\u201d<\/p>\n The oil industry is profiting $10 million every day because of the war in the Middle East, according to recent modelling by CCPA<\/a>. That could mean profits as high as $90 billion for the industry this year.<\/p>\n \u201cWe could tax that,\u201d explained Mertins-Kirkwood through an \u201cexcess profits\u201d or \u201cwindfall\u201d tax. The government could then use that money to improve affordability for Canadians.<\/p>\n Though this would likely be considered more \u201cinterventionist\u201d than this government is willing to be, he acknowledged.<\/p>\n Normand Mousseau, the scientific director of the Institut de l’\u00e9nergie Trottier\u00a0(IET) at Polytechnique Montr\u00e9al, believes what the government has chosen to do amounts to \u201cpopulism and laziness.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cI think it\u2019s a very bad policy,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n Energy policy specialist Pierre-Olivier Pineau agrees. He\u2019s a professor at HEC-Montr\u00e9al and the Research Chair in Energy Sector Management.<\/p>\n \u201cWe basically will give money to people who don\u2019t really need that money,\u201d said Pineau of the estimated $2.4 billion that it will cost the federal government to suspend the gas excise tax for five months.<\/p>\n He points out that more people than ever are buying SUVs; and if people can afford those vehicles, they can also likely afford the gas for them.<\/p>\n “We need to be sure we help the right people,” Pineau said, adding a better use of the government\u2019s money would be to subsidize people with lower revenues to buy electric cars.<\/p>\n