Section 50.1 — Excise Tax Act: Adjustment of rates of tax on certain petroleum products

Commencing on April 1, 1986, the rates enumerated in Schedule II.1 shall be adjusted each January 1, April 1, July 1 and October 1, so that the rates applicable during the three month period commencing on the adjustment day are equal to the amounts obtained by multiplying the rates so enumerated by the ratio, adjusted or altered in the manner prescribed pursuant to subsection (3) and rounded to the nearest one-thousandth or, where the ratio is equidistant from two one-thousandths, to the greater thereof, that the Industrial Product Price Index for Motor Gasoline, in the case of the rates enumerated in sections 1 and 2 of Schedule II.1, or the Industrial Product Price Index for Diesel Oil, in the case of the rate enumerated in section 5 of Schedule II.1, for the twelve month period ending on the day before the three month period immediately preceding the adjustment day bears to the Industrial Product Price Index for Motor Gasoline, in the case of the rates enumerated in sections 1 and 2 of Schedule II.1, or the Industrial Product Price Index for Diesel Oil, in the case of the rate enumerated in section 5 of Schedule II.1, for the twelve month period ending on September 30, 1985;

and by rounding the product obtained under paragraph (a) to the nearest one hundred-thousandth of a dollar or, if the product is equidistant from two one-hundred-thousandths of a dollar, to the greater thereof. For the purposes of subsection (1), the Industrial Product Price Index for Motor Gasoline, or the Industrial Product Price Index for Diesel Oil, for a twelve month period is the result obtained by aggregating the most recent Industrial Product Price Index for Motor Gasoline or the most recent Industrial Product Price Index for Diesel Oil, as the case may be, for each month in the period, including the relevant data for the period from January 1, 1981 to December 31, 1985, released by Statistics Canada under the authority of the Statistics Act on or before the fifteenth day of the third month following the end of that period and adjusted or altered in the manner prescribed pursuant to subsection (3); by dividing the aggregate obtained under paragraph (a) by twelve;

and by rounding the result obtained under paragraph (b) to the nearest one-thousandth or, if the result obtained is equidistant from two one-thousandths, to the greater thereof. The Governor in Council, on the recommendation of the Minister of Finance, may make regulations prescribing the manner in which the ratio referred to in subparagraph (1)(a)(ii) shall be adjusted or altered; and prescribing, for the purposes of subsection (2), the manner in which the Industrial Product Price Index for Motor Gasoline or the Industrial Product Price Index for Diesel Oil for any month shall be adjusted or altered. The Governor in Council may, by regulation, define the terms regular gasoline , unleaded gasoline , premium leaded gasoline and premium unleaded gasoline for the purposes of paragraph 50(1.1)(c) and of Schedule II.1.