Gasoline prices: the $2.00 bar passed almost everywhere in Quebec

After Montreal, Quebec, Rimouski and Sherbrooke, Centre-du-Québec passed the $2.00/litre mark on Tuesday morning.

In Drummondville, several service stations posted their prices at the pump at $2.05/litre, an all-time high. The pressure was strong, as several other cities in Quebec had already set their prices above two dollars. It was only a matter of time, as many experts repeat.

“When is it going to stop? […] I wonder how the families will do, ”said a motorist this morning, totally discouraged by the repeated increases.

“Gasoline is my company’s main expense right now, it hurts,” said a self-employed delivery worker. And this increase could very well continue in the coming weeks, especially with the arrival of summer and the demand which is much greater at this time of year. Prices could reach $2.20/litre, as mentioned by the president of the group Canadians for Affordable Energy, Dan McTeague.

“There is one thing that could prevent this increase before the long weekend in May and that would be a crisis or a recession.”

Exhausted taxi drivers

The price of a taxi ride has not increased since 2018, but the price of gasoline has jumped 51% in one year… and that’s not counting maintenance and insurance. Many simply can’t take it anymore.

Moreover, it is not just regular gasoline that is suffering these increases. In several regions, the price of diesel has reached $2.55 or even $2.60/litre, an unsustainable situation for truckers.

Carriers also demonstrated on Monday to demand compensation for the dizzying increase in fuel prices. The oppositions continued to put pressure on the government in the National Assembly on Tuesday.

The opposition reacts

In the National Assembly, pressure on the government circulated all day. “It is not up to these workers to collect the bill,” explains the spokesperson for Québec solidaire, Gabriel Nadeau-Dubois.

“It is not an out of proportion aid. It’s simply unfair for this category of truckers,” recalled the leader of the Parti Québécois, Paul St-Pierre Plamondon.

In the Liberal Party, the leader is calling for solutions. “The government has a responsibility to find solutions,” said Quebec Liberal Party leader Dominique Anglade.