Gas prices are up. Diesel is up. Heating oil is up. And workers are the ones paying for it. There is no shortage of oil in Canada. There has been no big jump in the cost to refine fuel here. What is happening is that global markets, driven by conflict and instability far away, are pushing prices higher. And because Canada lets oil companies sell our own oil to the highest bidder anywhere in the world, Canadians end up paying world prices for a resource we have in abundance.
That is a policy choice. And it can be changed. When fuel prices rise, Nova Scotia collects more tax automatically through the 15% HST on gasoline and diesel, all without a vote, a budget change, or giving anything back. With about 1.2 billion litres of fuel used annually, each 10-cent per litre price hike brings roughly $18 million more in tax revenue for the province. According to the Canadian Energy Regulator, Nova Scotia’s 2022 numbers say that we consume roughly 1.2 billion litres of gasoline and diesel each year. With the province charging 15% HST on fuel, a 10-cent-per-litre price increase automatically generates about $18 million in extra tax revenue for the provincial government, collected quietly, with no vote and no announcement. About 28% of Nova Scotia homes use fuel oil, over twice the national average, so rising heating oil prices hit families here harder than elsewhere.
So here the thing, the Oil Is Already Right Here: So Why Are We Paying World Prices?
Here is the part that should make every Nova Scotian and Atlantic Canadian angry. Off the coast of Newfoundland, just 300 to 350 kilometres from Atlantic Canada, there are four active offshore oil fields: Hibernia, Terra Nova, Hebron, and White Rose. In January 2026 alone, those fields produced 8.6 million barrels of oil, up nearly 18% from the year before. In all of 2025, they produced 87.6 million barrels.
And this is not the dirty, heavy oil sands bitumen that needs heavy processing. Newfoundland offshore oil is light, sweet crude, high-quality, easy to refine, and well-suited for making gasoline, diesel, and home heating oil. It is some of the best crude oil in the world. Despite producing 87.6 million barrels of offshore oil in 2025, Atlantic Canada still imported 286,000 barrels of crude daily in 2024, mostly from the US.
That is not a supply problem. That is a policy failure. No policy requires Newfoundland offshore oil to be sold domestically or transported directly to Atlantic refineries. Instead, companies ship it to the highest bidder, often American refineries.
Meanwhile, the Irving refinery in Saint John, the largest refinery in Canada, has historically sourced a large share of its crude from Saudi Arabia and the United States, buying it at global market prices and arriving by supertanker. Irving does use some Newfoundland offshore crude when it makes economic sense, but there is no requirement to do so, nor is there any government policy to make it a priority. Atlantic Canadians pay global fuel prices, even as local crude is shipped overseas. This situation is backwards.
What Nova Scotia Should Do Right Now: Here are a few ideas Premier Tim Houston and other provincial governments can pursue: they should come clean about how much extra HST revenue they have collected since global fuel prices began rising in early 2026. That money belongs to Nova Scotians. Here is what the province should do immediately:
Return the HST windfall through a direct rebate to Nova Scotians, with extra help for gas and fuel at the pumps, as we do for households heating with fuel oil.
Work with the Nova Scotia Utility and Review Board to ensure pump price regulations protect consumers, not just stabilize prices for retailers. NS regulations work to protect retailers first.
These are not big asks. They do not require new programs or new spending. The money is already there. Give it back.
Here is what the Federal Government Should Do Right Now: Ottawa cannot control global oil markets. But it has real tools, and it needs to use them. In the short term, the federal government should:
Cut the federal excise tax on gasoline and diesel by 10 cents per litre immediately, by regulation, so relief shows up at the pump within days.
Send a targeted fuel rebate to low and middle-income Canadians with extra support for rural Canadians who do not get a rebate of HST for those heating with oil, like in Nova Scotia.
Introduce a windfall profits tax on oil and gas companies, the Parliamentary Budget Officer says a 15% tax on just seven companies could raise $4.2 billion. The United Kingdom has been doing this since 2022. Every dollar raised should go directly back to consumers.
Summon oil company CEOs to Ottawa, require them to publicly explain their profit margins, and direct the Competition Bureau to investigate whether prices are rising faster than costs justify.
Require that a set share of Newfoundland offshore production be designated for domestic Atlantic Canadian use before the rest is exported, using federal jurisdiction over offshore energy resources.
Here is what needs to happen in the Long Term: Short-term relief helps people get through a crisis. But we need structural change so this does not keep happening every time global markets get rattled. For Atlantic Canada, the long-term solution is not a pipeline from Alberta. The oil is here; the need is for policies connecting local production to local refineries.
A dedicated marine supply agreement or federal policy that directs a portion of Newfoundland offshore production to Atlantic Canadian refineries at preferential domestic rates, rather than letting it all flow to the US market
Investment in short-sea shipping infrastructure to move Newfoundland crude to Atlantic refineries more reliably and at lower cost
Put some pressure on Irving Oil to prioritize Newfoundland offshore crude over imported Saudi or American crude.
Beyond that, Canada as a whole needs two big structural changes.
First, Canada is the only G7 country without a strategic petroleum reserve, despite having the third-largest proven oil reserves in the world. Every other G7 country, including the United States, holds a government-controlled oil reserve that it can release during a crisis to stabilize domestic prices. Canada has nothing. When the International Energy Agency called on member countries to release reserves during the current crisis, Canada had nothing to contribute. That has to change.
Second, Canada should seriously consider bringing back a public energy corporation, a modern version of the original Petro-Canada, which existed from 1975 until it was privatized in 1991. A Crown corporation with a mandate to hold domestic oil supply and sell it to Canadians at cost, not at world market prices, would be a real and lasting protection for working families. Revenue from a windfall profits tax could seed its startup capital.
So here is the Bottom Line: We are not at the mercy of global oil markets because we have no other choice. We are at their mercy because of decisions made over decades to hand control of our energy supply to private companies and let markets decide who pays what. For Atlantic Canadians, this is especially hard to accept. The oil we need is literally being produced off our own coastline. It is some of the best crude oil in the world. And yet it gets shipped to American refineries while we buy replacement barrels at global market prices. Workers in Nova Scotia, who drive long distances, heat their homes with fuel oil, and earn less on average than workers in central or western Canada, feel these decisions more than most.
Premier Houston and Prime Minister Carney, act now. Return the HST windfall, tax windfall profits, keep more of our own oil for Canadian use, and build a strategic reserve. Protect Canadians. The time for action is now.
This is not a radical opinion; it’s just about responsible leadership. Nova Scotians and all Canadians deserve decisive action to lower fuel costs and secure our energy future, and this must be done now.