Gas prices spike overnight
Posted May 11, 2011 7:14 am.
This article is more than 5 years old.
LOWER MAINLAND (NEWS1130) – Prepare yourself: The price of filling up the gas tank surged overnight.
It’s up to $1.44 per litre at some stations on the Lower Mainland. That’s a jump of roughly six cents from Tuesday’s price.
We met one man who had a $20 gas gift card, and was happy until he realized the fuel gauge barely moved. “I put it in, and it works out to about 14 litres!”
“They do tend to go up faster than they come down,” says another. “But I’ve also driven in Europe, where you pay quite a bit more. You have no choice in the matter, really.”
Gasoline prices have spiked across the country. It’s $1.41 per litre in Toronto and $1.47 per litre in Montreal. The increase is being blamed on speculative buying by traders.
How will pump prices affect your vacations?
Pump prices are putting a damper on road trip plans. News1130 hit the street to find out how a $1.45 per litre at the pump affects your upcoming May long weekend.
“I’m going to drive up to Kelowna and hang out with Dad,” says one man. “Maybe do some trips to Whistler, drive down to the states and do some shopping.”
It turns out, he’s got an advantage over most of us. “I have a diesel car,” he explains. “It gets five litres per hundred and the price difference is just a few bucks.”
But for the rest of us, that “staycation” Tourism BC has been touting is going to cost you, if you plan to travel by car. That’s fine for some — like one girl who tells us she likes to plan things during less busy times anyway. “I kind of took my vacation last week so I have nothing coming up for the next little while.”
Layton wants gasoline ombudsman
NDP Leader Jack Layton says Canadians should be able to file a complaint about unfair gas prices. It’s an idea he first proposed in 2008.
He thinks Ottawa needs to get very tough using its anti-competition bureau to see if big companies are colluding to cause the big gas price hikes.
He admits that would be hard to prove. “We want the creation of an ombudsman so that people can have a place to file a complaint if they see, in their opinion, that prices are going up in an unfair fashion. And that would at least be a start to be sure that government is on their side. Mr. Harper is washing his hands of this.”
