Another gas price hike fuels debate over what provinces can do for consumers

What to do about rising fuel prices in the Atlantic region sparked another fiery debate in the New Brunswick legislature Friday.

The Blaine Higgs government continues to blame Ottawa, saying the carbon tax is “detrimental to our future livelihood,” while the Liberal opposition is going after the government, saying it has the opportunity to help New Brunswickers cope – but isn’t taking action.

“You know the numbers, you could have acted last year, you decided not to, instead to give a billion dollars to bankers,” said Liberal opposition leader Roger Melanson on the floor of the legislature.

Attorney General Ted Flemming fired back.

“Why are we making Vladimir Putin rich? Why are we buying energy from the Ayatollah Khomeini in a terrorist state? Why are we buying energy from a bunch of Venezuelan thugs? We're dying of thirst because we won’t drink our own water,” he said, pointing toward the opposition.

The remarks were sparked after a week of record-breaking gas prices, now over $2 a litre in every Atlantic province.

Nova Scotia saw its minimum price increase overnight, now 198.5 cents per litre in the Halifax region, higher in Cape Breton at 200.5 cents per litre.

Prince Edward Island also saw another increase this week, its minimum now at 202.8 cents a litre.

The debate over what to do is gaining traction. The Canadian Taxpayers Federation says provincial governments should pick a tax, and reduce it.

“It doesn’t really matter which tax they're reducing,” said Renaud Brossard, Interim Atlantic Director, earlier this week.

“The fact is people pay five taxes whenever they go for fill up — so whether it's a gas tax, a carbon tax, or some of the sales taxes that could be lowered — there's a lot of good options premiers could look at.”

Premier Higgs has brought up a possible rebate, once he knows how much revenue the province is making off the high fuel prices. But continues to blame Ottawa’s carbon tax any chance he gets.

“We have a basic fundamental policy that is detrimental to our future energy security, our future livelihood and it's just been brought up as more of an issue in relation to the crisis in Europe,” said Higgs.

Melanson is skeptical a rebate will really happen.

“He didn't have in mind a rebate, he just thought about it or somebody whispered to him that, 'maybe it's a good idea, you know they're polling this week and you know maybe it'd get the headlines,” said Melanson.

“He got the headlines. My point today, premier, is get to work and tell us what you really meant.”

In Nova Scotia, the Liberal Party is also calling on Tim Houston’s Progressive Conservative government to return a portion of their fuel tax to Nova Scotians.

“People need relief, and they need it yesterday. Where is Premier Houston’s solution for the cost-of-living crisis?” said Liberal leader Iain Rankin in a release.