Going To Pumps Gives Me Gas

I'm at the point right now where I keep a little white flag in my car just in case I need to surrender. Every time I go to the gas station to fill up the tank, I get a bit closer to waiving that flag while yelling, "I give up!"

Like most Canadians, I can't take much more of this gouging and the unnecessary price hikes. But is that really what's happening?

It amazes me how easily the price can jump up six to ten cents at one time but rarely does it ever drop by large amounts. Actually, I know of one gas station where it does that several times a day. They just boost the price up on their own during peak hours of traffic and then drop it back down at the slower times. No price fixing there (sarcasm).

I realize other countries have it even worse than we do but I live here so this is what I have to deal with and complain about. Today gas in parts of Ontario topped $1.40 per litre. That's about $5.30 per gallon. A year ago at this time we were paying roughly 96.9 cents per litre.

What really grinds my gears is that the price of crude oil didn't even rise, so what is the reason for screwing the Canadian public other than greed?

The usual response of people when asked about the rising prices is, "what can I do about it? I need the gas to get to work to make money to feed myself and my family so we're forced to pay whatever they want to charge us." And that response is exactly what the big oil and gas companies want to hear. It's music to their ears as they roll around in their billions of dollars in profits.

Whenever these companies are confronted by the media, they concoct any number of excuses to justify the increases which drives the commodity up on the markets. The latest is that flooding along the Mississippi River in the U.S. could slow gasoline deliveries and possibly disrupt production. Are you kidding me? What a line of bullshit. When did they start raising prices based on something that "might" happen and "might" cause a problem? Not only that, but the gas that's already in the tanks under the gas station magically got more expensive since it was delivered? That's impressive!

The last time we saw prices like this was in 2008 when a barrel of oil cost $140. The price today is around $100 per barrel. What gives? Sounds like profit taking to me and the rich getting richer while average Canadians continue to see more money leaving their wallets than they can earn.

Is the Canadian government out of touch? The MP's all claim to hear our complaints yet nothing ever gets done about it. It's not even about the party in charge. All parties that have been in power have watched this happen year after year. When it comes right down to it, it would seem the government can do nothing but perhaps lower the tax on gas.

Understandably the price of gas will rise in the Spring as more people are driving more often and the demand for gas becomes greater. This will help to drive the price up even higher. Also, we pay more taxes on gas in Canada which if removed would bring our prices down to about the same price as our American neighbours are paying. Of course, that would mean less money for our government to send to other countries as aid. But don't get me started on that right now. I'd love to see Canada take just five years of not providing financial help to other countries to see what we could do with all that money right here.

Ultimately what will happen is the gas prices will continue to rise while the demands are high and Canadians will continue to bitch and complain but in the end, that's about all we can do...and I do it well.