HALIFAX, N.S. – Nova Scotia Premier Stephen McNeil said he is considering abandoning the province’s regulations on gas prices, the CBC reports.

The current system has been in place for eight years and establishes the price range each week for gasoline, accommodating periodic interruptions when substantial market fluctuations hit. McNeil said changes could begin as early as this fall. He plans to address scrapping the regulations at next month’s Eastern Canadian Premiers Meeting, May 23.

"We need to make sure that whatever changes that we make in and around that, the regulatory piece, we're not actually going to end up having an unintended consequence to what's happening," he said.

"As you know, businesses were changed to meet the regulatory model at that time and we need to make sure that when we make changes, that it will actually not cripple some of those companies."

McNeil said rural gas stations are particularly vulnerable to a completely open market on gasoline. Prince Edward Island (PEI) Premier Robert Ghiz said he would consider lowering taxes on gas only if the federal government compensates for the loss.

New Brunswick Finance Minister Blaine Higgs noted that they already have the third lowest gas tax rate in the country and that money from the gas tax is necessary to recover losses from recent flooding damages.

"We’re getting roughly $240 [million] to $250 million on our gas tax and we’re spending double that on our roads and infrastructure," he said. "It isn’t a time that we would want to look at making chances that would make us further uncompetitive in relation to where we are today.”