A gas sign at an Esso station at the corner of Lakeshore Blvd. and Carlaw Ave. in the east end of Toronto on April 3, 2026.Andrew Clark/The Globe and Mail
Outraged. Shocked. Furious. Drivers around the world have been struck by a tsunami of angry disbelief. Are they upset by the war in Iran, corporate greed run amok, the spectre of artificial intelligence or the unrelenting decay of the earth’s climate?
Close. The price of gasoline has gone up and so, the clock has struck “Freak Out O’clock.”
As soon as the bombs started falling on Iran, gas prices started climbing around the globe. According to the Canadian Automobile Association, gas prices are up 30 per cent since February 27. In Canada, gas cost around $1.77 per litre, an increase of 57 cents compared to the 2025 low in December. British Columbians are paying the most at $2 a litre and Albertans the least at $1.63 a litre. In the United States, gas has hit $4 a gallon. It climbed $1.05 in the last month, a record one-month leap.
It’s a hot topic. You can’t buy a coffee, chat with a neighbour, or harass a colleague without hearing about the pain at the pumps. That’s the nature of gasoline consumption. It’s turbulent and in your face. Gas prices are emblazoned on huge electric illuminated signs that we constantly drive by while checking our gas gauge, wondering how much longer we can last.
And then when we buy gas, we stand at the pump and watch the numbers roll. The price of cheese also increases but I’ve never passed an enormous sign broadcasting the price of my favourite cheese — seven-year-old Maple Dale Cheddar.
That’s the problem with gas prices - we are constantly made aware how dependent we are on this precious liquid and how changeable its price can be, and yet we’re always somehow surprised. By this point we shouldn’t be anymore surprised by the volatility of gas prices than we are by snow in winter.
From 2022: Gaslit: Breaking down the misconceptions around high gas prices
At the start of 2026, for instance, experts were sure that gas prices would be low. In January, Deloitte predicted the West Texas Intermediate (the key U.S. light oil benchmark) would average US$58 per barrel. “We see ourselves in a big oversupply situation right now of about three million barrels a day,” Andrew Botterill, a partner at Deloitte Canada told the Canadian Press. “We should expect downward pressure on prices, especially in the first half of the year.”
Two months and a couple of wars later and crude has pushed past $100/barrel.
As long as there has been oil, there’s been a crisis. I’ve compiled a list of our Gas Price “Greatest Fits” (like Proust’s “madeleine,” to transport you back in time):
- 1973 — OPEC oil embargo (Kojak)
- 1979–1980 — Iranian Revolution & Iran-Iraq War (Dallas)
- 1990–1991 — Gulf War (Beverly Hills 90210)
- 2005–2008 — China’s rise and Iraq War disruption (Lost)
- 2011 — Arab Spring and Libya crisis (Game of Thrones)
- 2021–2022 — Post-pandemic rebound and Russia-Ukraine War (Squid Game)
- 2026 — U.S.-Iran War and Strait of Hormuz crisis (The Pitt)
After so many decades of the same story, the only thing surprising about gas price increases is that people are still surprised by them.
So, what can we do? Unfortunately, the quick solutions are the purview of a few powerful people with bombs and money.
For us mere mortals, a good first step to to take a step back and examine the impact of just filling up (as opposed to how rising gas prices can cause the price of many other items to rise).
If a driver uses 100 litres a month, their costs have gone up $57. That’s significant but it’s not “keep-you-up-at-three-o’clock-in-the-morning” territory. Car payments? They can give you nightmares. In Canada, the average monthly payment for a new car comes close to $1,000.
Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre wants the federal government to get rid of tax on gasoline. “Canadians deserve affordable fuel and food,” he told the media Thursday. “Seniors should be able to enjoy a worry-free drive to see grandkids, parents should not stress about filling the minivan for hockey practice and workers should be able to fill their trucks stress-free.”
The problem is the temporary tax cut would lower the price at the pumps by only 25 cents a litre and cost the federal government more than $5-billion.
Parents are stressed because they’re worried about paying for university, the general madness of the world, drugs, crime and because life goes by so fast, we barely have time to look at one another. Mr. Poilievre, if you can fix that by getting rid of the excise tax, I’ll vote Conservative for the rest of my life.
One real solution to ease the stress of fluctuating gas prices (if you don’t accept that finding perspective is a real solution) is to make the switch to electric.
The search volume for electric vehicles on the online car retailer Clutch rose by 94 per cent from January to late March. “EVs are becoming more accessible, they’re becoming more affordable,” Rates.ca insurance expert and broker Daniel Ivans told The Globe and Mail. “And as gas prices hit the level where they’re at now, consumers who are on a budget, they’re almost forced to consider other options.”
This is something we’ve seen before, but interest hasn’t translated into such a sales increase. When most drivers crunch the numbers, if they already have a gas car that works well, it doesn’t make sense to drop $60,000 or $70,000 on an EV to save on gas, which is now $57 more a month.
The other reason these gas spikes don’t translate into EV sales is that the price of gas fluctuates. At some point, it will go down and we will forget about the high prices. And when it comes time for a new car, we may forget about why we thought an EV made financial sense.
Of course, there is one way to stem the pain caused by soaring gas prices – stop driving.
We Canadian drivers are averse to such thinking. Like Meatloaf, we will do anything for love, but we won’t do that.