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The provincial government announced Friday that beginning in May, personal drivers will receive a one-time $110 rebate and commercial drivers will receive $165, through ICBC to offset gas prices.
In total, $395M worth of rebates are being distributed.
Castanet visited a Kelowna gas station to see how drivers feel about the kickback.
“It’s about time,” said one driver.
“Prices are so high, at least the government can kick something in,” one resident said.
The Premier said they opted for a rebate rather than direct tax relief at the pumps due to the advice of “UBC economists” that said tax relief would be replaced by a price increase by retailers.
Other residents felt more could have been done to help consumers.
“I think they could’ve done a lot better, a rebate from ICBC really has nothing to do with the cost on gas prices,” said another resident.
A litre of gas in Kelowna is being sold for 187.9 cents, 191.0 in Kamloops, 189.9 in Penticton and 187.9 cents in Vernon.
Some said the $110 rebate is just a temporary band-aid.
“I think that would be really nice for people, but I don’t think that it’s actually going to be conducive to the gas prices continuously going up, especially with summer coming,” said one resident.
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