The Northern Mile Brief: week of 30 September 2026

Fuel, border and market shifts for carriers in Canada and the US.

Diesel averaged 265.6¢ a litre across Canada this week, per the NRCan survey printed 29 September 2026.

Across the ten index provinces the cheapest was Alberta at 250.0¢ and the dearest Quebec at 293.1¢, a 43.1¢ spread for the same product in the same country.

Where fuel sits

At or above the national average: Quebec 293.1¢, British Columbia 276.2¢, New Brunswick 272.9¢, Newfoundland and Labrador 271.1¢, Nova Scotia 266.7¢.

Below it: Prince Edward Island 264.6¢, Manitoba 256.6¢, Ontario 253.8¢, Saskatchewan 250.8¢, Alberta 250.0¢.

Surveyed but outside the index: Northwest Territories 217.9¢, Yukon 269.9¢.

The border

We tracked 9 crossings this week.

Carrying delays: Pacific Highway Crossing at 20 minutes, Peace Bridge at 13 minutes, Queenston-Lewiston Bridge at 7 minutes.

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

The dollar

The loonie closed at 1.4188 against the US dollar on 29 September 2026, up 0.14 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.

The wider picture

Monthly GDP: -0.0% (down)
Year-over-year: +1.4% (up)
Fuel cost per 1,000 km: $930 (up)
BC vs AB diesel spread: 26.2¢ (up)
USD/CAD vs 30-day average: 1.4188 (up)

Read this week's posts

Full tables for every figure above are on the dashboard.

Hero card showing the national diesel average at 265.6 cents a litre

Trucking cost per kilometre Canada: the diesel variable

The trucking cost per kilometre Canada number is built from two inputs. Only one of them moves, and it swings 75.2 cents a litre across the country.

Hero card showing the national diesel average at 268.5 cents a litre and the week's border wait times

Canada US border wait times: where trucks waited this week

Peace Bridge ran 13 minutes while five crossings stayed clear. Canada US border wait times this week, plus diesel at 268.5 cents and the loonie at 1.4145.

Driver Inc rules Canada: national diesel average 269.6 cents per litre

Driver Inc rules Canada: what the CRA crackdown changes

Driver Inc rules in Canada, the CRA test behind them, and what a carrier has to document to stay clear of a personal services business finding.

Every dataset we publish, and where to find it

A directory of every dataset Northern Mile Media publishes: diesel prices in Canada and the US, border wait times, IFTA fuel tax rates, the USD/CAD exchange rate and road incidents. Each one names its source and the date it was last refreshed.