1/19/2012

100 Mile House Gas Price Gouging

 After a Letter to the Editor written by some friends  about 100 Mile House being ripped off for gas prices, 100 Mile Free Press ran a story on the gas price variations in the Cariboo and Interior. I commented on this article because the responses given, especially by our MLA Donna Barnett, were just rhetoric and government script.

The story can be found HERE

Here is my  comment which the Free Press hadn't posted by the time I wrote this piece. Before posting I went back to check and the comment was there (16 hours after I submitted it)

Anyone wanting to check around for prices can do so here: http://www.gastips.com/GasPrices/7/british-columbia

As far as the supply and demand statement goes, that is patently false. Prices are set wherever the gas companies think they can gouge you. 100  mile area can consistently get cheaper prices at the 108.

Years ago when Flora Macdonald was the energy minister for Canada she had to defend prices when they jumped at the pump immediately after a rise in barrel costs. But they were never lowered for weeks when the wellhead price went down. The oil companies in this country  are lying to us for the sake of the almighty dollar. Just like Enbridge and their pipeline.end  


I think the price gouging is a valid argument and it doesn't just apply to this area. Two years ago because of the prices here in town I made the decision to shop in Williams Lake or Kamloops. I take all my Jerry Cans with me and purchase all my gas for things like my snow blower or Skidoo,  my log splitter and emergency generator. The money I save on that volume more than pays for my trip.

1 comment:

e.a.f. said...

Price gouging is a time honoured way of making money. Multi national corporations have the local politicons give them assist and away they go. When we see the price of gas going up and down like a yoyo you gotta wonder.

The lieberals then get into the act with their additional taxes and people continue to have difficulty making ends meet. B.C.'s average weekly wages are lower than the national average but the taxes, they just keep going up.

What makes this all so interesting is the drive by Harper and the lieberals to export oil from Alberta to other countries, without it even being refined here. If they were truly interest in jobs, oil would be refined in Alberta or B.C. before it was exported. We currently have to buy gas from other countries. It doesn't make sense in the short or long term, unless of course you were a mulit national corporation or a politican who benefitted.

Canadian oil should be kept in the ground and used only for Canadian purposes. It would provide us with jobs now and a steady source of oil for future generations. If oil is truly a depleting resource then why is Harper & Alberta so interested in selling it as fast as they can get it out of the ground.

We don't own the oil anymore. The companies who explored and developed the oil fields in Alberta are being taken over by multinational corporations.

yes we the Canadian consumers are being ripped off and it isn't going to stop any time soon. Gas on Vancouver Island is sometimes 10 cents a litre cheaper than in the lower mainland. Then you get to watch gas go up and down by 10 cents a litre and you have to wonder, how did that suddenly happen.

It is corporate greed, sanctioned by our government. If the liebeals wanted to make things a little easier and fairer for B.C. citizens all they would have to do is implement a law which requires gas companies to give 30 days notice of an increase in price. Yes I know that isn't going to happen in my life time, but we can always hope.