Albertans won’t see much relief at the pumps if conflictin the Middle East continues for the foreseeable future.
As oil prices closed Friday above US$90 a barrel, the province wouldn’t suspend the 13 cents a litre fuel tax, said Premier Danielle Smith says on her weekend call-in radio show.
She said because the rate is based on a three-month average, there won’t be any changes for now.
“We’re coming to the end of this first quarter where we do that assessment. This jump happened too late so it wouldn’t qualify for April 1,” Smith said.
“But we’d be looking at seeing if we would make the adjustment if these prices hold,” she added.
During the show, Smith also responded to Calgary Mayor Jeromy Farkas’ criticism of the education property tax increase in the provincial budget that it was a form of equalization to subsidize other cities.
In its 2026 budget, Smith’s UCP government increased the education property tax to boost spending on education to $10.8 billion.
With the tax hike, Calgary homeowners will see their tax bill go up by over 21 per cent or $340. In Edmonton, the average increase will be $154 or up by 13 per cent.
Smith said it wasn’t the case and that any money collected in Calgary or other communities goes back to education in those communities.
“I think people understand there’s a portion of the bill that goes into civic services like fixing potholes and makes sure the streets are plowed,” Smith said.
“And then there’s a certain portion that goes to make sure schools get built and teachers get hired, we have EAs dealing with complexity issues,” she said, adding that Calgary has driven 40 per cent of the province’s population growth in the last 5 years.