Please note: Gas prices have become very volatile because of a change in the way oil companies set their prices, thus making it more challenging to predict gasoline prices.

Gas pump

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VANCOUVER (NEWS1130) – One of the nuggets in yesterday’s BC budget was a plan from the province to review the controversial carbon tax, but even if it goes away, experts warn gas prices could skyrocket this year.

On July 1st, you’ll be paying a penny more per litre however that may change as the province is reviewing the carbon tax as the rest of North America doesn’t have it.

Gas experts say prices could jump 40 cents more due to world political issues and oil refinery closures. Vancouver drivers News1130 spoke to are not happy with the possibility of increasing gas prices.

“I think it’s ridiculous and I don’t want to pay that,” criticizes one woman.

This man concedes it’s an inevitability, “I think it’s really encouraging people to switch over to hybrids.  It’s unfortunate but it’s by-product of supply and demand and everybody needs it so prices are going to go up no matter what.”

The price of gas on the Lower Mainland is about $1.34/litre.

File photo

VANCOUVER (NEWS1130) – We just might see gas prices fall later this summer.

Oil futures prices tumbled below $90 a barrel Wednesday following a rare announcement by the International Energy Agency. Agency members will release 60 million barrels of oil from strategic reserves in an effort to ease oil prices.

Analyst Michael Ervin says it’ll take weeks for this news to reach gas pumps. “That price being quoted is the price for August delivery of crude oil.”

“Futures markets tend to be very volatile — on a day-to-day basis, as traders basically react, in many cases, knee-jerk react — to day-to-day geo-political events,” he explains, noting there is no guarantee drivers will save any money this summer.

According to Gasbuddy.com, the price in Metro Vancouver is in the neighbourhood of $1.30/litre. The average has dropped a penny or two over the last month, but we’re paying 20 cents more per litre compared to this time last year.

Where in the world is the cheapest gas?

In some countries, gas is dirt cheap. MSN has compiled a list of the world’s lowest prices.

There are four countries, including Turkmenistan and Libya, where drivers can find gas under 20 cents a litre.

People pay as little as 12 cents a litre in Saudi Arabia these days. But the Saudis have nothing on Caracas, Venezuela, where you can get it for as little as two cents a litre.

OTTAWA – Prime Minister Stephen Harper has sealed his place in the history books, rolling to his third consecutive Conservative election win.  This is the first majority government for the Conservatives since 1988, thanks to a remarkable showing in Ontario.

Harper joins Canada’s first prime minister, Sir John A. Macdonald, and 1950s-era John Diefenbaker as just the third Tory to prevail in three consecutive federal votes.

In the process, he’s also delivered an historic defeat to Canada’s once “natural governing party,” as Michael Ignatieff’s Liberals tumbled to third place in the seat standings behind the NDP.

The New Democrats, who had hoped to ride a mid-campaign surge of support to an orange revolution, become Canada’s official Opposition for the first time.

The Conservative run started in Atlantic Canada, where the Tories overtook the Liberals in the popular vote and added three of the 12 additional seats needed to ensure solid control of Parliament.

The Liberals emerged from the Maritimes scarred but alive, having dropped two seats to the New Democrats and three to the Conservatives. The Tories picked up one seat by a razor-thin margin in Newfoundland and Labrador after being shut out in the last election.

Nationally, the Conservatives had 38 per cent of the vote, compared to 30 per cent for the NDP and 28 for the Liberals.

Harper gave his victory speech at his party in Calgary.

“Thanks to our national team in Ottawa and on the road. Thanks to the tens of thousands Conservatives in the country,” Harper thanked his supporters. “You are our strength, you are our inspiration, you are our conscience.”

He also mentioned his family, including his mother and wife.

“Thank you to my mother who has held down the fort for the last five weeks with the kids and survived,” he joked. “And to Lorraine, I don’t know how you do it,” he said. “I could never adequately express my love.”

A fractious campaign that began slowly in the last week of March turned into a ground-churning, two-horse race to the finish.

A buoyant Harper cast his ballot at an elementary-junior high school in his Calgary Southwest riding, with wife Laureen and their two children at his side.

Layton and his Liberal rival, Michael Ignatieff, both voted in their Toronto ridings earlier in the day, reflecting what is expected to be the most significant dynamic of the national ballot.

Ignatieff, the subject of more than a year of negative Conservative advertising going into the 36-day race, proved to be a game campaigner but his anti-Harper call for change appeared to benefit Layton.

The NDP surged to unprecedented levels in Quebec after the leaders’ debate and appeared to gain momentum across Canada in the last two weeks of the campaign.

Layton voted in his Toronto Danforth riding accompanied by his wife, incumbent New Democrat Olivia Chow, along with his mother-in-law, daughter and granddaughter.

Ignatieff shook hands as he arrived at a polling station in a junior high school in suburban Etobicoke, trailed by news media. He appeared a bit on edge and after slowly inserting his ballot in the box, he got on the bus and waved to the cameras.

Later, he and wife Zsuzsanna Zohar visited a nursing home. The Liberal leader said it “feels great” to vote after the rigorous campaign.

Bloc Leader Gilles Duceppe cast his ballot in the morning in the Montreal riding where he’s believed to be fighting for his own seat.

And in the British Columbia riding of Saanich-Gulf Islands, Green Leader Elizabeth May was looking to defeat Tory cabinet minister Gary Lunn.

May focused virtually her entire campaign on the riding in her attempt to gain a voice inside the House of Commons. Insiders suggest the race is too close to call.

Depending largely on those vote splits, the Conservatives appeared to be on the cusp of their first majority since Harper initially took power in January 2006.

Just 58.8 per cent of eligible voters cast a ballot in the 2008 federal election, the lowest in Canadian history.

However, voters turned out in record numbers for early balloting on Easter weekend, leading some to speculate that an election derided as unnecessary by the governing Conservatives has generated amply public interest.

The surprisingly large 1.1 point increase in the price of consumer goods was the biggest year over year leap since September 2008.

The increase month over month was also 1.1 per cent.

The agency says prices rose last month in all eight major components it tracks, but the main contributor was gasoline and other energy-related activities.

Gas prices rose 18.9 per cent, fuel oil and other fuels surged 31.3 per cent, electricity costs increased by 4.3 per cent, and transportation costs, which have a heavy gasoline component, were up 6.6 per cent.

But other items also contributed to the price escalation. Food increased 3.3 per cent as the price for fresh vegetables rose by 18.6 per cent.

Shelter costs, with the exception of mortgage interest, recreation, household operations, health and personal care, alcohol and tobacco, even clothing and footwear, normally downward contributors to inflation, were all higher in March than last year, although the gains were more modest.

Regionally, Nova Scotia had the highest inflation rate of any province in Canada at 3.9 per cent, while price increases were lowest in Alberta at two per cent.

THE CANADIAN PRESS/Darryl Dyck

TORONTO – Gas prices went up again Tuesday morning by 0.6 cents to $135.5 a litre. However, that will be nothing compared to where the price is going to be in the next few months.

Gasbuddy.com predicts we will continue to be hosed at the pumps. Jason Toews, the website co-founder said the trend only seems to be going higher through summer road-trip season.

If you are going on a vacation and planning to drive there this summer, you might want to start saving some gas money. The summer driving season is going to be hard on your wallet.

Canadians may soon be filling up their gas tanks at an average of around $1.40 per litre, a price they have not seen since the summer of 2008.

According to Toews, the national average for regular gas could hit $1.40 per litre by Victoria Day.

Gasbuddy.com also indicated that the current Canadian average price at around $1.28 per litre. It is at the highest level since the financial crisis hit in the fall of 2008.

Toews said about 70 per cent of the cost of gasoline comes from the global price of crude oil.

He told 680News that if $1.40 a litre scares you, wait until July and August.

“I am expecting prices to this summer to get up to $1.45 to $1.50 per litre in the GTA,” said Toews.

One commuter at Yonge and Bloor told 680News, “I may need a second job … That’s crazy!”

Another commuter told 680News that the current gas price rise has made him consider other options. “I car pool now! I might even consider taking to GO Train, but that in itself is like a mortgage that I can not afford.”

Toews said as motorists begin to take the road during the start of summer, the demand will increase, and so will the price.

THE CANADIAN PRESS/Darryl Dyck

TORONTO – If you are going on a vacation and planning to drive there this summer, you might want to start saving some gas money.

Canadians may soon be filling up their gas tanks at an average of around $1.40 per litre, a price they have not seen since the summer of 2008.

According to the co-founder of Gasbuddy.com, Jason Toews predicted the national average for regular gas could hit $1.40 per litre by Victoria Day.

Gasbuddy.com indicated that the current Canadian average price at around $1.28 per litre. It is at the highest level since the financial crisis hit in the fall of 2008.

Toews said about 70 per cent of the cost of gasoline comes from the global price of crude oil.

He said as motorists begin to take the road during the start of summer, the demand will increase and so will the price.

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The turmoil in Egypt soon could hit Canadians in the wallet. The price of oil jumped 4.3 per cent Friday night, to end the week at $89.34US a barrel.

There is a concern that the riots in Egypt may spread across the Middle East and affect the flow of oil from the region.

The turmoil also boosted the price of gold and the U.S. dollar, each viewed as havens in troubled times.

The Canadian dollar closed at 99.89 cents US on Friday, down 0.79 of a cent.

The U.S. dollar stood at 100.11 cents CDN, up 0.79 of a cent.

Pricey at the pump. Vancouver tops the country with the most expensive gas in Canada.

VANCOUVER(News1130) – It’s official, Vancouver currently has the highest gas prices in the country.
Petroluem marketing company MJ Ervin finds the average price across Canada is roughly 1.04 a litre as of July 27th.
Here in Vancouver the average price is 1.19.  
60 markets were sampled in the survey.
We top traditional number ones, including Whitehorse and Yellowknife – the latter being at just over a 1.18.
The lowest price at the pump belongs to Edmonton at around 86 cents a litre.
Toronto is just below the national average at 1.03 a litre.