that argument of seasonal demand is a cop out excuse… they use it for every increase, summer demand, long weekend demand, winter demand,
there is a problem in the USA so Canada can pay demand.

we are now within 3 cents a liter from when crude was over $100 a barrel,
storage facilities, I read, are greater and fuller than they have ever been…so if they have that much sored do they really have a reason other than greed?

If Canada owned its own crude oil extraction industry and refineries it would have some power to influence what we pay at the pumps! But, alas, Petro Canada was gradually sold off and is now wholly owned by non-Canadian interests, Petro Fina primarily. We are a country which stands mostly on the sidelines while foreign companies do the extraction and marketing of *our* resources. We do get some royalties, but these are often just a fraction of what other countries get. That seems to be just fine with Ottawa which is too busy with other who-knows-what priorities.

So PG you are saying Canada owns no part of the oil industry, and Canadians own no industry outside of Canada.

Seamutt, can’t you read? PG didn’t say anything about whether or not Canadians “own no part of the oil industry, and Canadians own no industry outside of Canada”; he’s simply saying that we have lost a great deal of control over the oil and gas industry in Canada and therefore, control over pricing at the pump.
Try staying on topic for once.

When the government owned ALL of Petro-Canada did this result in Canadians paying lower prices at the pump every time they filled up? Or was the net profit generated by Petro-Canada, which is in the order of something like 3% of the price of gasoline, in addition to all the other taxes already imposed on motor fuels, which make up most of their price to the consumer, just going to be added to the ‘government’s’ take? To further embellish that government as ‘government’, instead of being of any net benefit to consumers at all?

GOUGING !!!!!!!!!!!!!
Going to drive less till prices come back down

When Canadians ‘own’ anything through their government, you have just about as much chance of controlling the price to the consumer in any beneficial way as you would in influencing the government to do other things you want it to do for you. Slim and none, in other words.

The issue here is not ‘ownership’, per se, because there is nothing to suggest from past experiences here and elsewhere that the ‘administrative’ aspect of ownership is ever always better exercised publicly than it is privately. Much suggests that just the reverse is true. Private enterprise often is far more efficient than public enterprise, simply because of two things. There is an incentive for the private operator to be so, and, more importantly, his ’employers’ ~ the general public that he works for ~ can fire him in an instant if he doesn’t produce what they want when they want it. He gets no severance pay when this happens, nor any of the other assorted benefits he would receive if he were a ‘government’ employee, and isolated thereby from those who ‘really’ pay him.

“…because there is nothing to suggest from past experiences here and elsewhere that the ‘administrative’ aspect of ownership is ever always better exercised publicly than it is privately..”

Sorry! Not so, of course! Just one good example: In 1938 the Mexican government expropriated the foreign owners of its oil sector (BP and others) and established PEMEX (Petroleos Mexicanos) a state owned entity which exists until today (more than seven decades). The State owns all the resources, does the extraction, refining and distribution (gas stations etc) state wide. Even if the price at the pump in Mexico would not have cheaper (but it was) all the labour, management and expertise stayed in Mexico and all the profits that otherwise would have left the country stayed in the country.

BTW, before seamutt gets any ideas and writes the usual response in the form of a suggestion: I have no intention of moving to Mexico although I really do admire their guts to stand up for their country!

Krusty get up off the wrong side of the bed, I suggest you read it again.

Actually Mexico has changed its constitution to end its government monopoly one reason being the very expensive energy cost to industrial users, read Socrdible. So what was that about state ownership?

“The implications of this alone could be profound for Mexican industry. About a fifth of the country’s power is now generated with dirty and expensive fuel oil which, excluding subsidies, makes the cost of electricity to industrial users 75% higher than in the United States. A greater supply of cheap gas coming down the pipes, coupled with a recent liberalisation of the electricity market to encourage the building of new power plants, could start to drive down power prices for industrial users within two years, officials say. That could make Mexico’s most buoyant export businesses, such as carmaking and aerospace, even more competitive.

Yet this is just one part of an energy revolution that is set to sweep Mexico now that its constitution has been changed, and enabling laws have been passed, to end Pemex’s 76-year monopoly on oil and gas production. All aspects of the energy market are being opened up. And a country with huge potential reserves—including extensive shale beds that mirror those across the border in the United States, albeit with more legal obstacles—is poised to start exploiting them more efficiently”.

http://www.economist.com/news/business/21632504-countrys-energy-reforms-may-transform-not-just-oil-and-gas-business-whole-its?zid=298&ah=0bc99f9da8f185b2964b6cef412227be

costco is now cashing in on the scam

I can only imagine how my customers would react if I raised prices whenever I feel the need to.

What is costco’s cost to buy? Did their cost go up?

Oil is priced internationally in US dollars, and the Canadian dollar continues to go down relative to the US buck. So we can export more, and maintain employment, (which EVERY Party running for office has committed to do). The downside is that raises the wholesale price to retailers like Costco and other Canadian retailers. The same petroleum products Costco buys in Canadian dollars would bring in more in Canadian dollars for their suppliers if sold for export thanks to the increasing difference in the exchange rate. But don’t despair, “work” is what you’ve told your political Parties you want, (at least what you’ve let them tell you that’s what you want ~ and you haven’t objected), so “work” is what you’ll get. Though why anyone would ever believe they have to ‘work’ their way towards bankruptcy when they can get there by doing absolutely nothing is the wonder of our age.

Prince George, take a look at the Wikipedia article on Pemex, and if what’s written there is in anyways accurate, it’s hardly a ringing endorsement for a government owned monopoly oil company.

It all depends who wrote the Wikipedia article. Those who work for PEMEX have jobs in exploration, extraction, engineering and sales. The profits go to their government instead to London, Beijing and/or New York. Ringing endorsements are far from their minds. Jobs put bread on the table and money which stays in the country pays for healthcare, schools and infrastructure. Soon we will wish we had not given so much away to others. The handwriting is on the wall!

PG did you miss my information. Not all money would stay in Mexico.

It is interesting though that the cost at Costco here is 121.9 but in Comox Costco gas is 114.9.

Seamutt: “It is interesting though that the cost at Costco here is 121.9 but in Comox Costco gas is 114.9”. True, gassed up here in Comox at Costco the other day (although technically, it’s in Courtenay). The sudden price rise doesn’t seem to have hit this area yet as other stations are charging $1.17.9.
I move back to the island and boom! gas jumps back in good ol’ PG – nice!

From the article on Pemex:-“In 1979, Pemex’s Ixtoc I exploratory oil well in the Bay of Campeche suffered a blowout resulting in one of the largest oil spills in history.[9] Pemex spent $100 million to clean up the spill and avoided most compensation claims by asserting sovereign immunity as a state-run company.[10]”
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In other words, the Mexican taxpayer got to pick up the tab for all but $100 million of the clean-up cost. Or maybe not. Maybe those who sought compensation for damages affecting them were just SOL. And then there’s this:-
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“On 19 September 2012 an explosion at the Pemex gas plant in Reynosa, Tamaulipas killed 30 and injured 46 people. Pemex Director Juan Jose Suarez said that there was “no evidence that it was a deliberate incident, or some kind of attack”.
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Accidents do happen, don’t they? Even in a government owned and operated business. Shades of the Chinese coal mines. Or the environmental record of Soviet Russia. But that’s okay, because as you say, ” The profits go to their government instead to London, Beijing and/or New York.” and the Mexicans ” have jobs in exploration, extraction, engineering and sales. Jobs put bread on the table and money which stays in the country pays for healthcare, schools and infrastructure.” Makes you wonder why Trump wants to build a wall along the US_Mexican border. Must be to keep Americans from illegally entering Mexico to try and get one of those “jobs”.

The price difference between Costco in Comox (or Courtenay, whichever it is)and Prince George could be due to a number of factors. Gasoline can be used as a “loss leader” sometimes, particularly in retail outlets which are trying to attract customers into their stores. Wal-Mart, for instance, isn’t a gasoline retailer, but a Wal-Mart store will typically have 100 items in the store that are common enough for most shoppers to know the general price of. These things will always be priced a little lower than their competitors have them on for. Then, after they’ve got you thinking ‘everything’ is cheaper in there, they nick you on all the other stuff. Home Depot does the same.