MONTREAL - The Competition Bureau said Friday it charged Irving Oil and its Quebec manager with fixing the retail price of gasoline at gas stations in three Quebec cities.

The bureau said Irving Oil and manager Serge Parent were charged with three counts each of price fixing.

Phil Norris, spokesman with the Competition Bureau, said the oil company and Parent have been served notices to appear in court. The charges are punishable by a fine of up to $10 million, a five-year prison term, or both, Norris said.

Norris said the bureau's investigation into Irving Oil included searches and wiretaps, but he wouldn't say how much money Parent and Irving allegedly cost customers.

The bureau charged Parent and Irving Oil for allegedly fixing prices in Victoriaville, Thetford Mines and Sherbrooke, Que. All three cities are located a couple hours' drive east of Montreal.

The bureau said in a news release on Friday that it has charged 39 people and 15 companies with price fixing at Quebec gas stations since its investigation began in 2008. Twenty-seven people have pleaded guilty and have been fined over $3 million, the bureau said. And six of the 27 who pleaded guilty were given sentences totalling 54 months.

A representative at Irving Oil, which is based in New Brunswick, told QMI Agency that the company couldn`t comment on the charges before Monday.

Family-owned, privately held Irving Oil operates the country's largest refinery in Saint John and more than 800 service stations in eastern Canada and the northeastern US.