The Northern Mile Brief: week of 23 September 2026

Fuel, border and market shifts for Canadian carriers.

Diesel averaged 271.0¢ a litre across Canada this week, per the NRCan survey printed 22 September 2026.

Across the ten index provinces the cheapest was Alberta at 247.3¢ and the dearest Quebec at 296.6¢, a 49.3¢ spread for the same product in the same country.

Where fuel sits

At or above the national average: Quebec 296.6¢, Newfoundland and Labrador 283.2¢, British Columbia 283.1¢, New Brunswick 279.6¢, Prince Edward Island 279.2¢, Nova Scotia 273.9¢.

Below it: Ontario 261.1¢, Manitoba 255.4¢, Saskatchewan 250.6¢, Alberta 247.3¢.

Surveyed but outside the index: Northwest Territories 218.8¢, Yukon 249.9¢.

The border

We tracked 9 crossings this week.

Carrying delays: Pacific Highway Crossing at 10 minutes, Peace Bridge at 2 minutes.

Clear: Ambassador Bridge, Blue Water Bridge, Queenston-Lewiston Bridge, Lacolle Border Crossing, Coutts-Sweetgrass, Emerson-Pembina.

The dollar

The loonie closed at 1.4064 against the US dollar on 22 September 2026, up 0.31 per cent.

Crude is priced in US dollars, so a soft loonie feeds into what refiners pay to bring it in. It also changes what fuel costs you on the US side of a cross-border run.