Question: Who is to blame for the sudden and very huge increase in the price of gasoline at Ottawa pumps?
I personally blame the greedy oil companies, and I blame Canada’s competition bureau, which even today can’t seem to understand that what we are faced with here is an unprecedented act of collusion and price fixing.
Sorry but I don’t know how else you can describe it.
Hurricane Ike did very little, if any, damage to oil production in Texas which has resulted in crude prices to fall below 100 dollars a barrel for the first time in more than eight years. Oil futures fell to 98.77 US a barrel yesterday, their lowest point since March of 2008.
You would think given those facts that the price of gasoline would have dropped even more than the 13 cents a litre increase we saw last Friday. Such is not the case.
Gasoline across Canada today is selling higher than it was when crude oil peaked out at $147 a barrel.
How can that be?
Gasoline sold for about 1.32 a litre in Ottawa with crude prices above $147 a barrel.
And now it sells in Ottawa in the range of a $1.30, down maybe a couple cents since Friday with crude oil selling below 100 dollars a barrel!
Worse of course is that we consumers have no choice. All service stations are within a couple cents of each other. Clear illustration again of widespread collusion. Or is there another explanation?
And this question: What, if anything, do you want the government to do about it?
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8 comments:
No matter what anyone says, the gasoline in the tanks is the same before and after the increase in price. This is unfair and the only word for it is stealing.
The government competition dept. should have the oil compamies up on charges. Someone should go to jail.
I agree it's long past due we got some answers on why we are paying unfair and inflated prices for gasoline.
The only thing worse than getting ripped-off is not knowing who is doing the ripping-off! Who do we scream at? Swinging ones fists through ghosts becomes tiring!
Canada arguably has the most untapped reserves of fossil fuels on the planet, yet we pay some of the highest prices for refined product anywhere. What's with that? Sorta like Eskimos paying too much for snow!
With hi-tech working on all kinds of ways of converting poop and straw and swamp scum into fuel for my reciprocating engine, perhaps they could also design a "refinery car".
>the Refinery Car:
The refinery car will look like an ordinary car, except for a huge vertical tube protruding from the back of the car. This towering tube will serve as a cracking tower for our mini- refinery.
The volatile gases: ethane, propane, and all the other "anes" (not including insane) could be used to propel your refinery car. The tars and pitch and heavy gunk from your cracking tower can be glooped-out from an extruder placed ahead of the front wheels of the refinery car. You could, therefore, fill in the pothole before the refinery car's wheel encounter it!
My refinery car concept cannot be any crazier than current, Canadian fuel prices.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8789NMWZ9EI
We have bigger things to worry about too.
The governmnet competition bureau has to play by the rules, operate with the laws and regulations on the books. We must look at consecutive Conservative & Liberal governments that support big oil & obviously don't have the fortitude to stand up to the banks or the petroleum companies. They spin but they don't work on behalf of average Canadian.
I'm not sure what the answer is, but all I know is that if any other consumable product jacked in price the way gas does, we'd be in some kind of pickle. Can you imagine if the price of a loaf of bread all of a sudden went from about $1.00 a loaf to $6.00 a loaf overnight?
I think part of the problem is the tax on a tax that we pay at the pump. There does not seem to be any sort of direct correlation between the price of gas and the price of crude oil...if it is tied to the markets, then why does it go up on the weekends & holidays when people aren't working?
I don't think we demand enough of politicians to take this seriously at all...we're typically Canadian, in that we'd rather complain about something than DO something about a problem/issue.
So, just how do we unleash the 'Competition Bureau'???
By this, I mean 'unleash', because their past investigations were, well, not particularly effective. Sure, they laid a few charges, but these were soon recouped by the higher prices at the pump....just cost of doing 'collusion'.
Another 'tame' investigation is not the same as 'unleashing' them...so HOW???
My only 'remedy' (and it's a poor one) is to only put in $5.00 worth when the price is 'up', and always fill up (even with just a 1/4 tank) when the price is 'down'....but the 'down' is less and less 'down'....but how else can the consumer react?
Does anyone really believe that if you use less oil or gas the price will go down? Like in England or Europe?
The less you use the higher the price will go.
The big oil companies like to make the same record profits year after year. That is the game all big companies play. Have you bought groceries lately? Smaller package for the same price. Fewer diapers for the same price.
This started in the 70's with the first fake oil crisis. There is so much money involved now that the big oil companies don't care that we know they are shafting us.
It is time for Canada to start the process to become self reliant.
It will take some time but it will be worth it.
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