Gassed Again!

By Ben Meisner

Some time ago, during an interview  with a major gas company, I was told the reason why we have high gas prices in this city is because:

(a) we don’t have the volume of gas being sold to be cheaper, and

(b)  we do not have enough outlets to be competitive.

In McBride, regular gas is selling for 94.9 cents a litre. Now the population of McBride is about 600 and there are only four service stations operating in that town. I wonder what reason could be advanced to come up with the fact that in spite of being a further 140 miles away from the refinery, they are able to still sell their product cheaperthan Prince George?  The answer in all this can be found in the fact that in this city we pay the dealers (those people who sell the stuff) the highest mark up in Canada.

Husky refinery, the folks that make the stuff, can’t be accused of sticking it to us, but that is not where it all ends. The refineries tack on an average 10 to 11 cents a litre and we are right in the ball park in Canada. On the other hand, when it comes to marking the stuff up at the pumps, Prince George is a proverbial gold mine in the gas industry.

Hosed is not the word, something much stronger should be used because  with a national average of  4.6 cents a litre and Prince George at 10.7 before the last increase, we are paying 240% more in mark ups than most cities in Canada. The gas station lots should be paved in Gold.

Now the argument you get is that a lot of the service stations are directly owned by the gas companies in Prince George not by an individual and that is true. So the local dealer may not be making that financial windfall, but Prince George must be the envy of all major gas companies outside of this city.

Recently, our Mayor wrote a letter to the Federal Government trying to stop the closing of the post office in Barkerville. Perhaps it is time some of our local politicians stepped forward and took the bull by the horns to try and organize some sort of protest here at home.You may remember the gas companies said  a boycott didn’t work the last time, but it was rather strange that in the past five years it was the only time our gas prices were comparable with other parts of this province coincidence?  

The word you hear is that the city shouldn’t get involved in this sort of thing. Well a few months ago we didn’t have any trouble stepping into the sale of BC Rail and prey tell what makes this issue any different  given the fact that it effects, in some way, every single resident of this city?

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