Alexa Chort, a single mother continuing her studies at Carleton University, has switched to online learning, all because of the cost of gas.
She had a 76-kilometre commute to her classes. She often was paying up to $80 a week to fill up, which amounts to $320 per month.
“It was never a question years ago – how will gas affect the budget if I need to drive my kid to a practice twice a week,” Chort told Capital Current.
Similarly, Sarah Benell, a third-year psychology student at Carleton University, has had to cut costs to afford the price of gas for her commute to campus from Kanata because, in her words, public transit is “unrealistic.”
“It looks cheaper, but it would take me almost double the commute time,” Benell explained. “I would go from driving 10 hours a week to 20 hours of commuting.”
While inflation has fallen to 2.2 per cent in October, according to a Capital Current analysis of data Statistics Canada uses to track consumer goods and services, Ontario gas prices were 14 per cent higher in September 2025 compared to April.
The factors behind the price of gas are multi-faceted. Jean-Thomas Bernard, an energy costs expert and economics professor at uOttawa, says there are two major components behind gas pricing.
“One is taxes, and the other is oil … and oil is very important there,” Bernard said.
The Organization of Oil Exporting Countries plays a major role. OPEC influences the global market.
“This is a club of countries that try to influence the price, obviously, up,” Bernard said.
As well, the volatility of factors influencing gasoline is a main reasons why prices remain high, says Carol Montreuil, vice president of the Canadian Fuels Association.
“Variables are pushing in different directions. At the end of the day it’s a global market. It trades seven days a week, 24 hours a day. It does not depend on Ontario or Quebec or Canada. We’re essentially a price taker and at the mercy of these fluctuations that are due to global events,” Montreuil said.
Case in point: Donald Trump’s tariffs: “A lot of people are forecasting that these tariffs, with time, will not be good for trade,” Montreuil said.
Tariffs hinder the freedom of the market, which dampens its recovery and reduces economic growth. Montreuil says this could lead to lower energy demand from consumers or it may not.
“Who can really predict if the economy in 2026 is going to be strong or if it’s going to become weaker? That’s a key question to be answered,” Montreuil said.
For motorists like Chort who must juggle a lot of responsibilities with school and family, the cost of gas remains a barrier.
“If the price wasn’t so high, we would be able to do a lot more as a family,” she said.
