Ok, so at the "well", the prices are the same as last summer but check out the overcharging at the pumps these days and read the following newly published report. What CAN we do and what are we WILLING to do to inform the oil companies to drop the price gouging?
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Gas gouging as much as 27 cents a litre: study
Updated Thu. May. 10 2007 10:41 AM ET
CTV.ca News Staff
Canadians are being gouged at the gas pumps across the country by as much as 27 cents a litre, says a new report.
The Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives (CCPA) examined gasoline prices before and after Hurricane Katrina and found an unjustified hike in prices after the disaster.
"There's absolutely no doubt in my mind that we're paying far too much at this point for gasoline," Hugh Mackenzie, an economist and researcher with the group, told Canada AM on Thursday.
"There's no doubt in my mind that we're dealing with an industry that has the market power to charge what the market will bear."
Mackenzie said there was a psychological barrier in Canada about paying more than $1 a litre for gasoline. But, after Katrina, the psychological factor was broken and exploited by gas companies.
The report found that motorists are being overcharged at the pumps for as much as 15 cents a litre in Toronto to as much as 27 cents a litre in Vancouver.
"The crude oil that ends up in our tanks today doesn't cost one cent more to produce today than it did in 2001 when the pump price was less than 60 cents a litre,'' the report says.
"And the windfall for Canadian producers amounts to $1.7 million every day for every dollar the price of crude goes up.''
Tony Macerollo of the Canadian Petroleum Products Institute, rejected the study, saying there are a number of justifiable reasons for the price increases.
He told The Canadian Press that increased demand, speculation and the fact that many North American oil refineries postponed upgrades in the wake of Katrina are factors in the price hike.
But Liberal MP Dan McTeague said the government is not doing enough to regulate the industry. He's calling for an independent body to be put in place to monitor gasoline prices.
"If a group of people want to push the price of gasoline beyond what is realistic, there's no one in Canada there to stop them,'' he told CP.
Using Mackenzie's calculations, the CCPA has posted an online gasoline price gouge calculator for consumers to figure out how much they're being overcharged.
Here's how much drivers across the country were being overcharged as of May 8, 2007:
* Halifax 0.194
* Saint John 0.146
* St. John's 0.163
* Charlottetown 0.185
* Montreal 0.136
* Québec 0.190
* Sherbrooke 0.185
* Chicoutimi 0.152
* Toronto 0.151
* Ottawa 0.141
* Sudbury 0.215
* London 0.150
* Winnipeg 0.209
* Regina 0.218
* Lethbridge 0.192
* Edmonton 0.182
* Kamloops 0.210
* Prince George 0.204
* Victoria 0.254
* Vancouver 0.272
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Gas gouging as much as 27 cents a litre: study
Updated Thu. May. 10 2007 10:41 AM ET
CTV.ca News Staff
Canadians are being gouged at the gas pumps across the country by as much as 27 cents a litre, says a new report.
The Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives (CCPA) examined gasoline prices before and after Hurricane Katrina and found an unjustified hike in prices after the disaster.
"There's absolutely no doubt in my mind that we're paying far too much at this point for gasoline," Hugh Mackenzie, an economist and researcher with the group, told Canada AM on Thursday.
"There's no doubt in my mind that we're dealing with an industry that has the market power to charge what the market will bear."
Mackenzie said there was a psychological barrier in Canada about paying more than $1 a litre for gasoline. But, after Katrina, the psychological factor was broken and exploited by gas companies.
The report found that motorists are being overcharged at the pumps for as much as 15 cents a litre in Toronto to as much as 27 cents a litre in Vancouver.
"The crude oil that ends up in our tanks today doesn't cost one cent more to produce today than it did in 2001 when the pump price was less than 60 cents a litre,'' the report says.
"And the windfall for Canadian producers amounts to $1.7 million every day for every dollar the price of crude goes up.''
Tony Macerollo of the Canadian Petroleum Products Institute, rejected the study, saying there are a number of justifiable reasons for the price increases.
He told The Canadian Press that increased demand, speculation and the fact that many North American oil refineries postponed upgrades in the wake of Katrina are factors in the price hike.
But Liberal MP Dan McTeague said the government is not doing enough to regulate the industry. He's calling for an independent body to be put in place to monitor gasoline prices.
"If a group of people want to push the price of gasoline beyond what is realistic, there's no one in Canada there to stop them,'' he told CP.
Using Mackenzie's calculations, the CCPA has posted an online gasoline price gouge calculator for consumers to figure out how much they're being overcharged.
Here's how much drivers across the country were being overcharged as of May 8, 2007:
* Halifax 0.194
* Saint John 0.146
* St. John's 0.163
* Charlottetown 0.185
* Montreal 0.136
* Québec 0.190
* Sherbrooke 0.185
* Chicoutimi 0.152
* Toronto 0.151
* Ottawa 0.141
* Sudbury 0.215
* London 0.150
* Winnipeg 0.209
* Regina 0.218
* Lethbridge 0.192
* Edmonton 0.182
* Kamloops 0.210
* Prince George 0.204
* Victoria 0.254
* Vancouver 0.272
