CHARLOTTETOWN — There was pain at the pumps for Maritime truckers and motorists when they went to fill up yesterday morning.

Diesel and gas prices shot up overnight — in some areas as much as 12 cents a liter in one shot.

According to media reports, diesel jumped 11 cents to between $1.47 and $1.51.2 a liter in P.E.I. Gas increased by six cents to a range of $1.30.

Despite calls from business groups to lower the provincial tax on fuel, Premier Rodney MacDonald told local reporters yesterday that every cent of the 15.5 cent-per-liter tax is needed to improve the province’s roads and highways.

Meanwhile, New Brunswick’s Energy and Utilities board approved a six-cent hike maximum for self-serve gas to $128.8, while diesel rose close to 10 cents to a maximum retail price of $148.2.

In Nova Scotia, prices rose about the same level this morning. As of about 9:00 a.m. the higher-priced retail stations in the province averaged between $1.48 and $1.53 a liter for diesel.

In Newfoundland and Labrador, where prices are the highest in the country, there was no real change in gas, but diesel climbed by
more than nine cents a liter.

In Labrador City, the cost of diesel is around the buck-sixty mark.