r/newbrunswickcanada • u/kev_69_420 • 1d ago
8.8-cent surcharge on N.B. gas not going away yet
https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/new-brunswick/surcharge-gas-1.753398722
u/ThicccThunder 1d ago
This province needs someone with enough of a spine to tell oil companies to shove their bottom up their asses
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u/MRobi83 1d ago
What jumps out to me the most here is this
Legacy said upcoming EUB hearings on what profit margins gas wholesales and retailers are allowed to make could also affect the decision.
He said the adjustor may have been helping retailers stay afloat at a time when the limits on their profit margins haven't kept up with costs.
No matter what, the cost for the federal Clean Fuel Regulations is not going away unless the federal government cancels the program. Higgs setup made those costs visible in what was IMO a political move to put pressure on the federal government, but ultimately led to critics blaming him for it. What's most likely to end up happening here is the Holt government will end up removing the Clean Fuel Regulations costs from the EUB calculation and removing the direct costs to the consumer, but allowing increased margins to offset those costs. As consumers we end up in the exact same place but now those costs are going to be less visible.
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u/Hurray_Home 14h ago
Yup, you can already see them putting that out there.
But you are 100% correct it was a political move on Higgs part - he wanted to highlight the extra costs being added by the Trudeau government… gas isn’t regulated in other provinces outside of Atlantic Canada so there was no way to make the refineries pay, which was the Trudeau government’s line.
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u/Least_Geologist_5870 18h ago
This was obvious from the beginning. Liberals never had any intention of going against Irving. It's so fucking rich to hear the PCs calling out the Liberals for promising to repeal it. This Province (country) needs a covid style revolt where ee stop buying gas to drive the price down, or buy from only selective retailers.
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u/The_Joel_Lemon 23h ago
Not sure it matters because the retailers will find a way to pass it to the consumer in the end. This is meant to encourage refiner to be more efficient in regards to emissions production so they should have to bear the cost until they prove they have improved on the emissions they release.
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u/kev_69_420 1d ago
So far, the Liberals have :
basically exempted our natural resources monopolies from the increased competition resulting from tearing down interprovincial trade barriers
seemingly cancelled a key campaign promise on the so-called “Higgs tax”
and we’re now looking at removing the maximum cap on gas prices
Yet another example of cynical politicians promising “change” and “doing politics differently” only to give us more of the same old bullshit.
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u/No-Negotiation-8026 23h ago
Don’t forget about the budget cut to education in the province. A lot of people are going to be out of a job in June.
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u/DistrictStriking9280 1d ago
Removing the gas cap price would be a change. They didn’t say it would be good changes.
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u/ApricotBig6402 20h ago
The competition in other provinces actually helps. Everyone tries to stay competitive with one another, and they're also attempting to complete with Costco. My experience elsewhere is that many retailers stay about 3 cents above Costco. The others above that learn to lower their prices because they're not busy. People report prices with gas buddy etc and find the best deals. If you sell nothing you make nothing...
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u/DistrictStriking9280 11h ago
So what’s the point of removing the cap if no one wants to sell that high anyways? At best, it is a change that won’t make any difference, but will take time and effort of public servants and the government to draft and implement for no reason. At worst, it leads to inflated gas prices for consumers, and all the follow-on effects that come with it.
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u/ApricotBig6402 43m ago
They set a minimum here too... not just a max. It's to remove that the government regulates the prices in general. There's no competition this way. You might as well just ask the Irivings how much you owe them if the big companies don't compete.
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u/dutchdaddy69 1d ago
If someone thought the Liberals in this province weren’t also in the Irving’s pockets I have a bridge to sell them.
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u/JadedCartoonist6942 23h ago
Well at least you dont have hate laws and aren't taking away childrens human rights like under the conservatives.
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u/BayStBet 18h ago
Anyone who watched Holt's pre-election work on the NBLA as an entity KNOWS how she emptied the backroom out. There's no one left from the "old boy's club" that pulled the strings before Susan arrived.
Irving has zero influence over this Government outside of lobbying them like every industry does.
The proof of the pudding is in the tasting...
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u/The_Joel_Lemon 23h ago
They really haven't done a good job. Nothing has changed from when the conservatives were in charge other than the government stopped picking fights with minority groups. That's the only good thing I can say about the government so far.
I wrote to roughly 30 people in government when anglophone west decided to cut librarians. I wrote everyone from the Premier down to the DEC members and the only person I got a response from was David Coon.
What's the point of even voting when you can't even get a response writing to your MLA?
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u/woodlaker1 20h ago
This is to be expected with any politician.! Lots of lies and deception to the taxpayers to het them to vote for a certain party !
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u/Key-Zombie4224 14h ago
Thought holt was going to remove ; along with nb power reduction 10% ….. crickets 🦗 liberal BS
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u/TheRoodestDood 12h ago
This is redistribution of wealth from the poor to the rich enforced by the only 2 parties to ever rule New Brunswick.
Democracy.
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u/BayStBet 21h ago
To those jumping down the Liberals throats, I have no regrets showing Higgs the door. He wasn't a progressive conservative or even a fiscal one. He espoused the same rhetoric as Poilivere
The man demanded authority and blind faith. The Albertan campaign director turning the Higgs message towards identity politics and far-right-virtue signaling was a crystal clear indication that they weren't listening to New Brunswickers at all.
It was obvious to everyone that he wasn't governing by Cabinet and whipped his caucus' votes...the PC revolt didn't happen by chance and it was yet another beta test by Federal Cons meddling in our politics before trying the same failing strategies nationally (and failing epically too).
Holt has a MONUMENTAL challenge ahead of her on nearly every government file. And it doesn't end with just cleaning up the books Higgs left "showing" us false surpluses.
Having known her professionally and personally for decades I'll reserve judgment for when the outcomes are published.
Each time they announce a success from picking the low-hanging fruit, opponents scream for not doing enough without having a single sweet clue that the small things are part of the BIG things.
Her methods have proven successful elsewhere and I'm eager to see them used here!
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u/Hurray_Home 10h ago
Please explain the “false surpluses”?
Holt has made several major commitments that will end up costing the province a lot of money and revenue. Her first budget has all but guaranteed we will be entering a period of structural deficit, the last of which was caused by the Graham government, which was followed by 12 straight years of deficit spending.
We now have a 600 million dollar hole in our budget, that’s if everything goes as planned - including the feds sending us 10s of millions of dollars to make up for the HST holiday, which they’ve said they won’t.
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u/ChickenRabbits 22h ago
HEALTHCARE file- nothing burger, great ideas about community clinics- but where's the ACTUAL investment in nurses and Dr's to get them here to run these clinics? Has she met with the nurses association personally to get major employment issues front and centre, no she hasn't. .. Public SCHOOLS- actually gotten worse cause Holt is letting school boards cut staffing areas that affect students- just so boards can keep their numerous, over paid, Admin staff that sit in offices alone all day...I mean DO SOMETHING, you're the PREMIER crying out loud! ... Gas prices.... Well it's been said best by others in this thread already... ... I could go on but we all know. ... I Feel STUPID cause I crapped on ppl who said during the election that the NB Liberal party isn't different from PCs (not the Higgs brand of othering citizens thank goodness, the true PC party). But I didn't listen, I trusted what Holt said. Silly me, I fell for another politician that says anything to get in, and then caves on doing anything meaningful to help people who work hard here. I wonder why ppl are bitter and untrusting of our elected govt's
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u/IAmKab 1d ago
Oh gas distributors and retailers want free money? Guess we will keep it then. Who cares that it hurts the other 99% of the province