The price at the pump broke a record in Rimouski, reaching $1.78 per liter on Wednesday, in the wake of the increase in world demand and the invasion of Ukraine by Russia.
However, this record risks being broken once more quickly, warn experts who do not believe that the bill will go down anytime soon.
“Of course there will be a shortfall in oil. [Ça] will certainly contribute to an increase in the price of the goods we will buy,” said Normand Mousseau, professor at the University of Montreal.
However, CAA-Quebec sets the realistic price for a liter of regular gas in Bas-Saint-Laurent at $1.69 per litre, a difference of 9 cents with the actual price.
Residents have to make sacrifices. Some confided, at the microphone of TVA Nouvelles, that they had to cut non-essential transport, while others said they made sacrifices at the level of their groceries.
“The price of gasoline weighs on the middle class and the less well off. Currently, we have many taxes on gasoline, including a federal excise tax of $0.10/L, and a provincial fuel tax of 19 cents per litre,” commented Miguel Ouellette, an expert from the Montreal Economic Institute.
Experts estimate that the price at the pump might cross the two dollar mark per liter within a few months.