By Pepper Parr
May 20th, 2022
BURLINGTON, ON
First it was Doug Ford’s buck a beer – that didn’t really take off.
Then it was the Liberal buck a ride for transit – there wasn’t a lot of detail band it came across as gimmicky.
Then Andrea announced the NDP would regulate the price of gas — capping gas prices, outlawing gouging, and saving Ontarians money at the pumps.
They had my attention.
Then NDP leader Andrea Horwath got on her soap box and said: “Every day, people are being gouged by oil and gas companies who are already making record profits,” said Horwath. “It’s time for Ontarians to get a break at the pumps. We’re going to cap gas prices and ban gouging — so you pay less.
“Ontarians need a government that will look out for them, not for their friends or giant corporations.”
She added: “Horwath and the NDP will regulate retail and wholesale mark-up of prices. The Ontario Energy Board will set a weekly price that includes reasonable profits for gas companies — not more.
“Four years ago Doug Ford promised to lower gas prices by 10 cents per litre. He has not. And the Ford and Del Duca scheme to temporarily lower the gas tax will only benefit gas stations — there’s no requirement that they pass that break on to drivers. Only Horwath and the NDP will get tough with oil companies and ensure permanent savings at the pump.
“Gas prices in Ontario have reached record highs, even though the cost of crude oil and refined products have not reached record highs.
“Gas prices are currently regulated in a number of provinces — it’s time Ontario did too.”
Nice election perk – is it enough to make her the Premier of the province – and if that happens – can she run a government ?
Something to think about,
I think the big problem is lack of refining capacity. Some that were shut down for covid, have not been restarted. The ones open, are busy working away. I would guess cost is a factor, because they were not put on a care and maintenance program. Too bad we gave up so much of our refining capability a long time ago. It made the environmentalists happy, at the time.
As for profits,…. I read about our banks……They are doing well.
This article makes no mention of the inflationary affect that gas taxes has on the price. There are a number of Provincial and Federal taxes that are charged on every drop of gas pumped into vehicles. Some taxes are fixed dollar amounts. Others like the Provincial Sales Tax and the GST, which form the HST charged at 13% of the underlying cost of gas increase the dollar revenue taken by governments. Simple math. At $1 per litre charged to you or me, the HST generates 12 50 cents in tax revenue. At $2 per litre that revenue 23 cents.
The same math and affect applies to food, utility bills, anything upon which HST ischarged.
So yeah, hold the oil companies accountable. After all their profits have skyrocketed. But hold our governments accountable for not mitigating the price increases by reducing the HST percentage factor or even converting it to a set dollar amount. Governments are realizing huge windfall profits.
A desperate hail Mary, I agree with Joe, axe the carbon tax and start reducing provincial and federal taxes on fuel. The positive returns to the average citizen will accrue quickly.
Really? The price of gasoline in Canada is determined by a number of factors. In order to not complicate or oversimplify the matter, gasoline prices are affected by; the world price of oil, the amount of oil that is produced, where it is refined, the capacity of the refineries, the whims of the environment and about anything that interrupts the flow of gasoline to our pumps.
At the moment gasoline production is running at about the 95% rate of production, which means there is not a lot of room for any slack. As demand increases over the summer, due to the capacity of oil and therefore gas production, prices will again surge. And of course there is the geopolitical matter of the war in the Ukraine and other factors that determine the price of a barrel of oil.
If you were to take a trip across the border to Buffalo, at this very moment you would pay around $4.59 US for a gallon of regular gas, which equates to about $1.68 cents per liter in Canadian dollars.
Why the difference, pure and simple, taxation. If any government wishes to lower the amount we pay for gasoline, the solution is very simple, just eliminate some or all of the difference caused by taxation and/or carbon pricing. By eliminating the taxes a.k.a. government revenue, we would also be paying $1.68 per liter, instead of $1.96 or $2.08. Caveat emptor, there is only one pocket book,ours, and as long as we ask politicians to spend more and more of our money there will be no end to high gas prices in Ontario.