Quebecers will soon get daily gas price updates: Fitzgibbon (2024)

QUEBEC — In an attempt to lower the price at the pump, Quebec plans to abolish the floor price of gasoline but says, in a free market economy, it is unable to go the other way and slap a ceiling on soaring prices to give consumers a break.

But Quebecers will soon have access to a new source of gas price information so they can shop around before tanking up.

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Starting this summer, retailers will be obliged to furnish their gas prices on a daily basis to the Régie de l’énergie which will in turn publish them, likely on a phone application similar to existing ones like GasBuddy.

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The two announcements were made Thursday by Quebec’s Minister for the Economy, Pierre Fitzgibbon, as he released a long awaited report into gas prices in Quebec that he commissioned in February.

It was produced by a specialist in antitrust legislation, Robert Clark, a professor at Queen’s University and Montreal’s HEC.

The report, 111-pages long, concludes what many have suspected for years: there is a significant concentration of gas retailers on the Quebec market and that has led to higher prices in some regions than others.

There are four named: Quebec City region, Chaudière-Appalaches, Gaspésie and Côte-Nord. The estimated retail margins have been above average, a trend that started in 2021 and has not changed since, the report says.

On the other hand, a region like the Saguenay, which is experiencing a pricing war, has among the lowest gas prices in Quebec.

“We see the pricing tendencies in certain local markets are simply incoherent with what we want to see in a competitive market,” Fitzgibbon said at a news conference.

“We see significant concentration (in prices). In the end it is the consumer who pays. Clearly this concerns me.”

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Fitzgibbon said he has already forwarded the report to the Competition Bureau of Canada, which is responsible for ensuring consumer protection and investigating possible collusion in the industry. He conceded he does not yet have a response.

But he said he will act immediately on two of Clark’s recommendations that fall with the province’s jurisdiction.

First, Quebec plans to abolish Article 67 of the province’s Petroleum Products Act, which imposes a floor or base price on gasoline in Quebec.

Initially meant to encourage independent retailers by preventing big retailers from undercutting them on the market, Clark concluded the effect has been the opposite, discouraging small brands from setting more competitive prices.

“We wanted to protect the independents to impede predators which wanted to concentrate the market to have higher prices,” Fitzgibbon said. “The concentration happened anyway, as we have seen for a few years now.”

Fitzgibbon pledged to table legislation abolishing the floor price, which has existed since 1997, before the June 7 recess of the legislature. The Canadian Federation of Taxpayers has been calling for the floor price to be abolished for years.

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The second step is to oblige service stations to be more transparent in their pricing by forwarding their prices, daily, to the Régie. Fitzgibbon said he hopes consumers will be “better informed and equipped” to shop for the best buys.

He conceded there is no guarantee any of the measures will actually result in lower gas prices for Quebecers.

“But if there’s wrong behaviour here, the fact you have to publish it on a daily basis on a government site may have an influence,” he said.

He also said Quebec does not actually know what will happen once the floor price of gas is abolished.

“Who knows? There might be people out there who are going to reduce the price. If that happens, Quebecers will be happy.”

But Fitzgibbon appeared to slip up on a final question posed to him by reporters who noted comments from citizens on social media are wondering why the government does not lower its taxes on gas to ease their burden.

“Lower the tax on gas? If anything needs to be done I think we should increase them,” he said.

The comment runs contrary to the Coalition Avenir Québec government’s usual position, which is not to raise Quebecers’ taxes. Fitzgibbon has slipped before, saying last year that Quebec needs to cut the number gas-burning cars on its roads in half.

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Later, on X, Fitzgibbon clarified his comment.

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“Certain journalists misinterpreted by comments,” Fitzgibbon wrote. “The government has no intention of increasing the tax on gas.”

The report’s recommendations arrive as Quebecers enter a long weekend, which is often a moment where gas prices suddenly and mysteriously increase. Clark’s report does not deal with this question.

On Thursday the price of regular gas in the capital region was averaging at around $1.80 a litre, about 15 cents more than gas prices in the Saguenay-Lac-Saint-Jean region where fuel was $1.65.2 cents per litre.

In Montreal and Laval the prices was about $1.72 a litre.

There are 2,779 gas stations in Quebec which sell, on average, three millions litres of fuel a year.

pauthier@postmedia.com

twitter.com/philipauthier

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