N.B.'s gas prices lowest in Canada

New Brunswick drivers are seeing the cost of gasoline drop for the second day in a row after the falling international oil prices triggered the province's interruption clause.

Drivers in New Brunswick are now paying the lowest gas prices in Canada.

The province's Energy and Utilities Board reduced the maximum cost of gasoline to 124.2 cents per litre from 132.5 cents per litre at 12:01 a.m. on Friday.

New Brunswick's maximum pump prices dropped more than three cents per litre on Thursday after the energy regulator reset gas prices in its regular weekly setting.

New Brunswick's regulated gas system orders the EUB to assign the maximum price of gasoline every Thursday. However, if the cost of any of the regulated fuels drops by a specific amount, the interruption clause is triggered and the EUB must order prices lower.

While the price of regular, self-serve gasoline is now 124.2 cents per litre, the cost of mid-grade gasoline also dropped to 127.6 cents per litre from 134.9 cents per litre and the cost of premium gasoline is now set at 131 cents per litre from 139.3 cents per litre.

Until the EUB interrupted the price of gasoline, New Brunswick's gas prices were in the middle of the national average.

The price of gas differed greatly depending on where drivers were filling up their tanks on Thursday.

Drivers in Ottawa paid 129 cents per litre, while drivers paid 143.7 cents per litre in Vancouver.The cheapest gasoline, meanwhile, was in Nunavut where the cost of filling up with regular gasoline was 126.9 cents per litre.

The cost of gasoline is becoming a national issue.

Federal Industry Minister Tony Clement  said Thursday that he would summon oil executives, retailers, and refiners to a parliamentary committee in Ottawa to explain their pricing methods to Canadians.

Clement described current pricing of gasoline as lacking clarity.