Fuel prices set to increase across Nunavut starting Saturday

Government of Nunavut says increase is due to elimination of carbon tax rebate

Included in Nunavut’s 2023-24 budget, tabled in February, are direct payments to help offset the cost of the federal carbon tax. Finance Minister Lorne Kusugak said at the time it was to help ensure climate change initiatives don’t create bigger economic barriers for Nunavummiut. (Photo by Meral Jamal)

By Meral Jamal

Retail fuel prices across the territory are set to increase April 1.

Prices for gasoline, diesel, home heating oil, aviation fuel and a few other fuels will increase due to the elimination of the carbon tax rebate for fuel, the Government of Nunavut announced Friday.

The new prices are as follows in all communities except Iqaluit:

  • Gasoline – $1.49/litre
  • Heating diesel — $1.47/litre
  • Vehicle diesel — $1.61/litre
  • Aviation diesel — $1.85/litre

In Iqaluit, the new prices are:

  • Heating diesel – $1.40
  • Aviation fuel – $1.76
  • Vehicle gasoline and diesel prices are available at vendor locations

Launched in July 2019, the Nunavut Carbon Rebate previously paid half the federal government’s carbon tax on fuel like diesel and gasoline, according to the GN’s website, with consumers paying the other half when they purchase the fuel.

The carbon rebate was replaced by a new refundable tax credit proposed by Nunavut Finance Minister Lorne Kusugak as part of the territorial government’s 2023-24 budget. It will offer direct payments to Nunavummiut every three months, starting July 2023.

“Due to a change in the federal government’s carbon pricing rules, Nunavut was forced to cancel its direct subsidy on fuel, the Nunavut Carbon Rebate program,” Kusugak said Feb. 23 in his budget address.

“Despite our government’s best efforts to shield Nunavummiut from higher prices at the pump, these new federal rules no longer allow us to offer them a direct discount.”

Noting Nunavummiut continue to rely on carbon-based fuels to power hunting equipment, provide electricity and heat their homes, he said it’s important that measures meant to help participate in federal climate change initiatives do not add bigger financial barriers.

 

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(27) Comments:

  1. Posted by Name withheld on

    I recall GN stating that the fuel price would not go up until the next sealift delivery, if they were to increase it…

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  2. Posted by frank on

    im pretty sure im not the only person to realize why government jacked up the prices again, its all to do with the collective agreement they unwilling did with the nue. this coming october, 3.5 percent increase, so they found a way to get that money back, absolutely no choice for us but to give it back one way or the other. we, nunavut citizens, as a whole, are and will always be screwed by our nasty government. absolutely no way around it! they’re constantly laughing at us every time they reap our hard earned dollar!

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    • Posted by 867 on

      This is because of trudeau’s carbon tax going up has nothing to do with the GN trying to “get rich” or “make you poor”

      Liberal/NDP party did this not the GN

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      • Posted by frank on

        is that a fact?!?!

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        • Posted by Yes Frank on

          Yes it is a fact.
          Trudeau did this, with the help of his NDP buddy.

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          • Posted by Igunaaqi on

            We need Conservatives back in office!

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  3. Posted by Bob Lee on

    Both GN and Feds are sure making profit out of carbon. GN increased it last year even though GN already bought it and delivered them to Baffin communities. $304.29 a barrel (207 litres) of house diesel and house at least 414 litres (2 barrels) a month during winter, depending on the house.

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  4. Posted by John WP Murphy on

    Well, you can thank Lori Idlout, the MP YOU voted in (after 2 other failures), and her NDP/Liberal cohorts for this in carbon taxes.
    You didn’t really believe they were going to reduce taxes.

    Just like you are not going to see those 3000 housing units our inexperienced Premier and Finance Minister joyfully announced without knowing where the dollars were going to come from.
    Nothing, in this NDP/Liberal budget, included anything near the funding for 3000 homes in Nunavut.

    So here we sit, ignored until you have the opportunity to vote for a party at the federal level that has Nunavut’s interest at heart.

    And, I suggest, you speak to your MLA about who sits in the Premier’s chair and other seats in the cabinet. We can’t continue to have inexperienced people lobbying for us in Ottawa without realizing that pretty words are not enough. Actual money transferred here for housing makes a commitment.

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    • Posted by MARS on

      Unfortunately in Canada pretty words equals votes as we continuously see. The saddest part of our current government is the how blatant they are in their dismissal of the voter base. It’s disgusting.

  5. Posted by Northern Inuit on

    it’s amazing how liberal government will promise minimum tax hikes and grocery rebates along with rebates that are vague yet promise to the person listening that it’s wonderful how the government is there to help you.

    yet if you ever watch the debate in Parliament, the NDP and Conservatives ask proper questions to Liberals like “how can they justify carbon tax yet fly all over the world on the Government dime, even so far as a 10 minute flight on a private jet because they did not want to drive one hour”

    yet liberals dance around with a 2 minute speech of verbal diarrhea without answering the question?

    the next federal election can’t come fast enough.

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    • Posted by Forever Amazed on

      Federal election is way past due. However, I am not hopeful. With the state of mental illness in this country (as per television ads), I am not hopeful.

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    • Posted by Ian on

      We get what we elect, and prices on everything will continue to go up, we are now going to start paying for those free Covid payments, it’s all about the defecit. Keep voting NDP, and Liberal, not only Nunavut but Canada, but hey we have free dental if you make under 90k, only cost us taxpayers 7 billion dollars, we will have pretty teeth.

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    • Posted by Ian on

      Dreamer, we will elect another NDP/liberal in 2025 federal election

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  6. Posted by Mass Formation on

    Liberal/NDP carbon tax pushed the $40 tonne automatically to $50 tonne on April 1st. Hold on to your wallet. Gas, aviation and home heating will keep on skyrocketing until reaches $170 a tonne. Will make it totally unaffordable to drive cars, snow machines, ATVs and boats. Imagine the cost of air ticket and food. Hunting, fishing and sealing ending. GN, NTI, KIAs, QIA, HTA’s, silent.

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  7. Posted by Lest we forget on

    Hmmm I remember the Cons ignoring Clyde River on their seismic testing CONcerns and Leona reading the newspaper during questions on their Nutrition North Program. Sure the current Libs under Pretty Boy JT aint the best but they are better than the alternative for the North, Inuit and Nunavut. Smelling like Sh!t is better than tasting like Sh!t

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    • Posted by Not a robot on

      Leona’s days are gone, it doesn’t make sense to judge the conservatives on her peccadillos. Unfortunately, the party seems seriously challenged in finding a good candidate in Nunavut.

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    • Posted by What a Psycho on

      If the Conservatives could put forward a more sane alternative than Pierre Poilievre, they might get more voters.

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  8. Posted by TMP on

    Wow what a disgusting scam being pulled on private homeowners in Nunavut!
    A carbon tax is supposedly going to motivate people to burn less fuel… but in Nunavut there isn’t even another viable option to heating your home at this time!

    The cost of heat (100,000 btu) from electric in Nunavut For the private homeowner is $18.03 and the same amount of heat by oil at the new rate is $4.72, $4.34 before this new tax increase. Is there really any politician out there that thinks a 38 cent tax grab will incent anyone to pay four and a half times more than they are currently paying to heat their house by switching to electric?

    And here’s the real punchline to this bad joke… the electricity is created by a deisel generator AND there is not nearly enough capacity in these generators if everyone switches to electric heat!!!

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  9. Posted by Senator Dennis Patterson on

    Senate of Canada March 30, 2023 Question Period
    Finance Cost of Fuel
    Hon. Dennis Glen Patterson:
    Senator Gold, this Saturday, residents of Nunavut will pay significantly higher costs for gasoline and home heating fuel due to the federal government forcing the Government of Nunavut to no longer provide a direct subsidy in those fuels at the pump, a system that has been in place since the Pan-Canadian Framework on Clean Growth and Climate Change was implemented in 2016.
    But now, starting Saturday, the federal government has refused to allow that direct subsidy at the pumps to continue, and it threatened to impose the dreaded backstop, which would have returned carbon tax revenues from Nunavut to the federal government, despite pleas from the Government of Nunavut not to do that.

    Senator Gold, my question is this: Why is the federal government now punishing Nunavut homeowners, drivers and hunters who already have the highest cost of living in the country and have been hard hit by inflationary price increases?

    Hon. Marc Gold (Government Representative in the Senate): Thank you for your question. I don’t have an answer for it, senator. I’ll have to look into it and get back to you with an answer.

    Senator D. Patterson: Thank you for that response, Senator Gold.
    The federal government has recognized Nunavut’s unique vulnerabilities and lack of green alternatives, so we’re vulnerable to the burdensome costs of imposing the carbon tax. They have exempted us from paying the tax on fuel for power generation and intraterritorial aviation fuel.
    Would you please advocate for extending this exemption to gasoline and home heating fuel? We can’t go back to dog teams instead of snowmobiles or snow houses instead of modern homes.

    Senator Gold: I will certainly share these concerns regarding occupations in the course of my discussions with the government.

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  10. Posted by Name withheld on

    You’d think they would subsidize fuel, gas considering how much they have made with the B&W store ?

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    • Posted by Think About It on

      You really believe that this is not subsidized already? Considering where we are, we have one of the lowest gas prices in the country.
      In NB home of the country’s largest refinery regular gas is 1.70 a litre

  11. Posted by Truestory on

    Meanwhile, the sad saga continues in Nunavut. Always has, always will.
    “Oh well…Idiots be at the top levels.

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    • Posted by John WP Murphy on

      Naw, I think it’s the other way around. The higher-ups are the smart ones. Well paid too.
      The questionable ones are really the voters who put them in that position.

  12. Posted by Northman on

    Welcome to the real world.

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  13. Posted by MIKE on

    ABOUT THE PRICES IN ONTARIO …

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  14. Posted by Really on

    So now do we add fuels of all types to the list of things you want for free. Like stated before you still have the best price for gas compared to the rest of the country. And don’t forget the majority of nunavutmiut heat for free. Join the real world.

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    • Posted by John WP Murphy on

      Lowest prices in Canada?? Perhaps because we buy a year in advance and the supplier (the GN) is a not for profit??
      And no, the majority do not get free heat.
      Misinformation like yours, does not help the issues.

Comments are closed.