If you plan on filling up on gas for the long weekend, you might want to wait until the clock strikes midnight.

Roger McKnight, chief petroleum analyst for En-Pro International says the price of gas in Toronto is expected to go down by four cents per litre overnight Friday.

"You're going to see a drop at midnight tonight. It's going to go down four cents — an astronomical drop," McKnight told CBC Toronto.

"So much for the theory that prices go up on long weekends. It's going right down the dumper tomorrow morning."

McKnight said prices will probably go up a cent or so on Sunday, but would hold right through to Tuesday, before changing again on Wednesday.

Trump's comments a factor

Explaining the reason for the expected drop, McKnight said while there are normally 16 factors that go into a litre of gas, this has now climbed to 17.

"It's called the Trump effect. Whenever Donald Trump makes a statement one way or the other, the price of gasoline either goes up or goes down," he said.

"Yesterday he increased the tariffs on China and that was interpreted as that's going to drop demand for crude oil, and that means a drop in demand for gasoline, and so the prices went down."

McKnight could not say how long the price would stay down, noting the Trump factor is hard to predict.

Roger McKnight, chief petroleum analyst for En-Pro International says prices will probably go up a cent or so on Sunday, but would hold right through to Tuesday, before changing again on Wednesday. (CBC)

Addressing the belief that gas prices usually do not go down over a long weekend, the En-Pro International analyst says that's simply a myth.

"Prices in Canada aren't made in Canada, they're made in the United States. It's not a holiday in the United States... If the prices go up in the [there], they automatically go up in Canada. It's called NAFTA," McKnight said.

A welcome change

Drivers who spoke with CBC News welcomed the news.

Waqas Chaudry was one of them.

"I'm excited, but it should go down back to 90 or 95 [cents]. That's what I'm more used to. I've been in other parts of the world. It's getting really pricey here," he said.



For Lima Ndipnu, the news is "fantastic."

"They need to go down lower. Gas prices are too expensive. I feel like they go higher more times than they go lower," Ndipnu said.



As for the news that gas prices could go up again Sunday, Ndipnu said that was "quite unfortunate" but that he plans to "take advantage" of the lower prices while they're still around.