Ontario gas prices: what’s in the price, how regions differ, and where to start

A GasBuddy Ontario search gives you a province-wide view, but you can’t drive to a provincial minimum. The useful comparison is between stations you could realistically reach, in one grade, with recent reports. This hub covers the parts that are the same everywhere in Ontario (the taxes) and the parts that aren’t (regional price patterns). Each city guide below handles its local details. We don’t publish live prices.

Ontario city guides

Toronto, the GTA and Hamilton

Niagara

Eastern Ontario

Southwestern Ontario

Northern Ontario

What’s in an Ontario pump price

Taxes are set provincially and federally, so they’re the same in Kenora as in Kingston. Natural Resources Canada lists only three Canadian municipalities with their own gas tax, Vancouver, Victoria and Montreal, so no Ontario city adds one (NRCan).

Component	As of November 2026	Source
Ontario gasoline tax	9.0¢ per litre on unleaded; the 2025 Budget committed to keeping it at 9¢ permanently	Ontario Ministry of Finance; 2025 Ontario Budget
Federal excise tax	0¢ (suspended 20 April 2026 to 31 January 2027); planned 5¢ for February–March 2027 and 10¢ from 1 April 2027	Finance Canada
HST	13%, charged on crude, margins and the per-litre taxes	CRA; NRCan
Federal consumer carbon charge	Removed 1 April 2025	Finance Canada

The Ontario gas tax is collected at the wholesale level and doesn’t appear on your receipt; HST does (Ontario Ministry of Finance).

An illustration with a hypothetical price. If regular were C$1.70 a litre, about 19.6 cents of that would be HST (170 ÷ 1.13 = 150.4 cents before HST). Of the 150.4 cents, 9.0 would be Ontario gas tax and, for now, nothing federal. The remaining 141.4 cents would cover crude, refining, wholesale and retail margins.

What the excise schedule means for you. Because HST is charged on top of the excise tax, the planned increases would raise pump prices by more than their face value, all else being equal. That’s about 5.7 cents a litre in February 2027 (5 × 1.13) and about 11.3 cents once the full 10 cents returns in April (10 × 1.13). Keep that in mind when you compare prices across those dates, including in your own fuel logbook.

How prices differed across Ontario over the past year

Ontario publishes weekly average pump prices, taxes included, collected by Kalibrate (Ontario motor fuel prices). Its downloadable file lists 14 markets plus southern, northern and provincial averages (dataset). We calculated these figures from the regular unleaded series for the 52 weeks to 2 November 2026:

Market	2 Nov 2026 (¢/L)	Average gap vs Ontario	Weeks below Ontario average	Weeks with a 5¢+ move
Ontario average	175.1	—	—	17
Southern Ontario average	176.3	+0.6	6	21
Northern Ontario average	165.5	−4.6	44	18
Toronto West	178.0	+1.7	3	21
Toronto East	177.9	+1.2	3	21
London	177.5	+1.9	1	21
Windsor	175.4	0.0	28	22
St. Catharines	174.8	−2.2	51	19
Ottawa	172.4	−1.2	37	23
Peterborough	165.6	−6.9	42	20
Parry Sound	168.9	−4.8	36	14
North Bay	166.4	−6.5	44	27
Sudbury	151.7	−9.4	49	26
Sault Ste. Marie	164.6	−6.1	39	14
Timmins	178.2	+3.4	16	18
Thunder Bay	174.4	−0.9	31	31
Kenora	185.1	+2.0	21	18

Three things stand out:

The north wasn’t uniformly more expensive. Over this period the northern average ran below the provincial average in 44 of 52 weeks, with Sudbury the lowest-priced market. Timmins and Kenora ran above.
The Toronto and London markets ran slightly above average almost every week. Filling at the Niagara end of a GTA–Niagara commute usually came out a little cheaper.
Thunder Bay was the most volatile. It moved by 5 cents or more in 31 weeks. The province notes that Thunder Bay’s wholesale prices are strongly influenced by the Edmonton benchmark, and Toronto’s by New York Harbor (same ministry page).

These are weekly market averages, not prices you can buy, and one year of data can’t tell you about next year. Many cities, including Oshawa, Sarnia and Welland, have no figure of their own in the survey.

Three different numbers need three different labels

Figure	Use	Limitation
Station observation	Compare a particular fuel purchase	It can change after reporting
City or provincial average	Understand a broad level or trend	It is not a local offer
Tomorrow’s forecast	Explore a possible future budget	It is not a guaranteed pump price

Ontario search results mix all three. The Ontario station directory labels report ages, while the Kingston forecast page presents predictions. They answer different questions.

Using GasBuddy Ontario results

Start broad if you must, then narrow to a city, postal code or route before comparing stations. Keep the grade and report age the same across candidates. Resolve same-name places too: specify London, Ontario and Kingston, Ontario; confirm the country for Niagara Falls; and in Hamilton, use a precise starting point rather than the whole city. For current reports, start on the official GasBuddy website. Our GasBuddy app guide and map guide cover the interface.

How far is too far for a cheaper fill?

This is a hypothetical example. Suppose you’ll buy 40 litres and another station is 5 cents per litre cheaper, a C$2.00 gross saving. At an illustrative C$0.128 of fuel per extra kilometre (8 L/100 km at C$1.60 a litre), 16 added kilometres burn about C$2.05. The detour already loses money before you count your time.

Count all the added driving, including getting back to your original route. On a trip you were taking anyway, count only the extra distance to the station. The trip fuel cost calculator does the sum for your own car.

Is gas cheaper in Ontario or Quebec?

The tax structures differ more than most people expect. Quebec’s general fuel tax is 19.2 cents a litre against Ontario’s 9.0 (NRCan). Quebec charges 5% GST plus 9.975% QST where Ontario charges 13% HST (CRA). Quebec is also the only province that collects a carbon price on fuel (NRCan). The Greater Montréal area adds a 3-cent transit tax, while some Quebec border and remote regions pay a reduced fuel tax (CAA-Québec). Station margins vary too, so compare actual prices. Our Ottawa guide covers the Gatineau comparison.

What will Ontario gas prices be tomorrow?

We don’t forecast. Next-day predictions for Ontario are published by some analysts and reported in local news, but they’re estimates. Use them to decide when to fill up, and use recent station reports to decide where.

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Fuel Route Guide is an independent publication and is not affiliated with GasBuddy or the fuel retailers mentioned here. Illustrative calculations were prepared for this guide; no station visit or live-price verification is claimed.