Might as well sell "the old jet boat" cuz things ain't gonna change.

Ben your going to have a tough time with that canoe as well. All the good spots to launch from are now getting blocked by absantee landlords. I used to launch mine from the flats at the end of Miworth, but the road in there has now been blocked by an absantee landlord a few weeks ago. This gate blocks not only the landowners absantee land, but also blocks access to public land along the river. All of Miworth is up in arms over this, because it was a local spot that was enjoyed by many who would walk their pets down there, as well as use it for a place to launch canoes from. The effect is that the new gate blocks access to the best canoeing parts of the Nechako river, and the only other way to get there now is to launch from the Chilacko River and flow into the Nechako, or hike the canoe past the gate. Access to the Stewert river is also blocked by absantee landlords, as is the Nechako from the north side.

I've noticed in the last year that gates have been going up everywhere around town and the common theme seams to be where access to public land is blocked by private gates where land is aquired on either side of access roads. In the case of the Miworth gate the gate is not even on private land and yet it blocks access to public land.

Also I agree that the price of gas is ridiculous. IMO we can thank NAFTA.

Tonight, at around 8pm, the gas price at the Esso station at the corner of Queensway and 18th was still 96.9

if you rush ......... you can save $3.50 or so .... that will buy you part of a latte grande .... :-)

Imagine the price of that per litre ... :-)

Who would guess that day would come when you'd have to give your first born or your right arm for lozy tank of gas!

The amazing thing about all the hikes in gasoline is the amount of people that still drive the big trucks and can afford it!! $150 bucks a week for driving your vehicle??!! That is truly insane....who needs a 4x4 that bad?

What am I to do with my 4x4 sell it? who would buy it. mybe it time to blow up some pipelines so there would be a reason to have high gas prices.Greedy companys greedy goverments. Bull

Figuring the old school way, that is $4.9595 a gallon. Now figure out if your vehicle gets 10 miles to the gallon it now costs you 49.59 cents for every mile you drive. Many R V's average around 7 miles to the gallon, so it costs those tourists 70.85 cents for every mile they drive.I hate to calculate the ones that get only 5, but they are on the road also, so you can just figure the $1.00 a mile for them. From Vancouver to Prince George should make $350.00 to $480.00 look sick.
Now it is difficult for me to be an optimist, and think Prince George will become any type of tourist destination. Of course the cost of a ticket to fly will increase. All our purchases will increase, as trucking costs go up. The government will be forced to increase welfare payments and pensions,(or drastically lower an already base standard of living,) so our taxes will increase. We are already prepared for our utilities to increase. Interest rates are on the agenda to increase, so mortgages subject to renewal will surely be hit. All service industries will be looking for additional money to cover their costs. All professionals will be looking for a raise in their incomes.Education costs will go up for students, as the university will have to cover their increased costs.
Insurance will go up, as everything suddenly supposedly has a greater value.
The only thing free is the fresh air we breathe, (and that is questionable, the fresh part anyhow).
It is actually rather depressing when one views the economy realistically.
Maybe selling that jet boat might be the answer, Ben, while there is still someone around who can "maybe" afford to buy it!!!!
Better to sell it before somebody steals it, as it is a certainty crime will be on the increase also!!!!
As the worn out saying goes, "Have a nice day."

Why is it most people are afried to use their real NAMES on comments. If you have a comment have the guts to leave your name. OR are you all LIBERALS

Real names on the internet ....

anyone who asks me in person when we sit face to face to discuss this site will know who I am because I have no problem in telling them. I see them face to face, eyeball to eyeball. I know who they are and they know who I am.

However, I prefer not to broadcast my name on a medium which is accessible world-wide and is accessible to all sorts of kooks who have nothing better to do than to search out names and spam them.

A name, a search engine, an online phone book, attached to a map, and on several sites now an aerial photograph to visually show where the residence is and in what sort of neighbourhood it is.

So, there are valid reasons for "handles" if one values their privacy.

Here is the neighbourhood of one indivudual gotten by putting his name into a search engine and going from there.

http://www.mobilo50.de/luftbild.php?eid=1520

Gipsy's senario of a new equilibirum being found eventually is the one which more or less proves to be true in the end in a free marketplace economy. Of course, in the meantime we have to undergo disrutptions such as trucker strikes and re-allocation of disposable income until the new equilibrium is achieved.

But, as many economists will state, the relationship of the cost of gasoline to the remainder of our expenditures has been no different than it was during the first "oil crisis" in the 70's.

However, the peak in oil production in the world has either been reached or is close (within less than a decade) of being reached. That means that total production will be levelling off and will soon be starting to decline. This will cause prices to go up even further unless an alternate source is found or less oil is used.

Taping new sources, such as the Beaufort sea proposal will extend the peaking by about 6 months, I believe is the figure I have seen. If the Alberta tar sand can be fully utilized it may extend the peak by a decade or so.

Time to get hybrid vehicles and plug them in overnight. Time to build another dam or two. BC has the potential for more hydro energy.

Hey Donald, kudos on having the cahonies to put your real name. Good to see someone who isn't afraid to say what they are thinking and letting people know they are saying it. The real name thing can bring out issues with the crazies on the internet but good too see some old school still alive.

- Wilmer Valderrama

I really do not feel the folks who honestly feel they have something beneficial to contribute to this site, (might be just dreaming), are doing so because they can do so incognito.
I, for one, do not really care who the party is, but some of the information is very interesting, and can give one a different perspective on what is taking place in this world of ours. I, for one, often ask for explanations to comments, so consider the site informative, and perhaps helpful in many instances.
To even think someone could pinpoint the location of my home through my name on the net is downright scarey. Thanks but no thanks!!!
This site has me convinced we are some kind of "no account" northerners as far as Governments are concerned. We pay our dues, and presumably that is all we are good for!!!! If this is the "heartland" I do not want to see the area that is a real "bummer."

Echoeing what NDP leader Joy Macphail once said "If the interior is the heartlands then the liberals are the cholesterol".

I think it is time for us all to realize that the days of cheap gasoline are pretty well gone. There might be another short "fix" with the current situation, but this time it won't take 30 years for the next crisis to happen. The end of oil as a primary energy source is in sight now. Those born today will not be using it when they hit retirement age and likely even sooner.

Blaming the BC Liberals, the Federal Liberals, the NDP, the Conservatives or whatever political party you do not happen to like today, is rather petty. Look in the mirror and you will see who you should be blaming. As they say, if you are not part of the solution, then you are part of the problem.

There is an excellent article in the National Geographic this month. For me, the key words in it are as follows:

Although some politicians believe the task of developing the new energy technologies should be left to market forces, many experts disagree. That's not just because it's expensive to get new technology started, but also because government can often take risks that private enterprise won't.

"Most of the modern technology that has been driving the U.S. economy did not come spontaneously from market forces," NYU's Martin Hoffert says, ticking off jet planes, satellite communications, integrated circuits, computers. "The Internet was supported for 20 years by the military and for 10 more years by the National Science Foundation before Wall Street found it."

Without a big push from government, he says, we may be condemned to rely on increasingly dirty fossil fuels as cleaner ones like oil and gas run out, with dire consequences for the climate. "If we don't have a proactive energy policy," he says, "we'll just wind up using coal, then shale, then tar sands, and it will be a continually diminishing return, and eventually our civilization will collapse. But it doesn't have to end that way. We have a choice."

http://www7.nationalgeographic.com/ngm/0508/feature1/fulltext.html

One other thought that frequently comes to mind when someone "bitches" about gasoline prices.

Does anyone ever *** about the millions per year that is paid to people who can skate with a stick, throw a ball into a basket, hit a ball with a stick out of the ballpark, etc.?

I think our priorities are completely skewed. We are being lulled into oblivion.

When I go to the big box store to buy my groceries I am amazed at the number of trucks in the parking lot. When I look at the big one ton rigs I can't help but wonder if the driver owns an oil well. Last night I saw a young family arrive in their Hummer.
I just sold my Tarus and got a small Tyoto and there is a noticable difference in cost when I fill up.
An artical in the Economist recently claimed that the price of oil per barrel no longer has a bearing on the cost of gasoline. They claimed that the stock market is driving the price of gas. Apparently when production was increased to reduce the cost of gas there was no change in its cost.
And in pssing those whiners about identity will have to find another website, those are the rules.

You do not need other web site, I own 2 PICKUPS unlike you I Hunt, Fish, carry things around for People like you,

You do not need a other web site I OWN 2 pick up trucks. UNLIKE you I hunt ,fish ,and carry things around for people who own small cars. I also pull you out of the ditch in the winter. This is PRINCE GEORGE WE MAKE OUR GAS HERE,THE PRICE IS JUST, GREEDY GOVERMENTS, AND BIG COMPANYS

I think it is a given that without generous people with pickup trucks others would not be able to buy small vehicles.

Besides, we have to keep the manufacturers of box liners and canopies busy.

;-)

Well Mac now you know why the price of gas is so high and your supporting greedy governments and big corporations.
I have lived in Prince George for over 30 years and have never needed a truck for the reasons that you give. Actually a car performs much better on ice and snow then a pick up truck. It has much better weight distribuition then a truck and the front wheel drive is far superior in snow and ice then the old rear end drive. As for hauling stuff around I had no problem getting 2X4X8' or even 20 foot lengths of 3/4" splinkler pipe with my Taurus.
So Mac get a car and help fight those greedy corporations.
Kim Reynolds

And if you do need to carry larger and bulkier things around on occasion for gardening, home maintenance, some carpentry projects, etc. the environmentally friendly thing to do is get a hitch on your vehicle and buy a trailer to suit your needs. That way you do not drive around the rest of the time with what is, in effect, a heavy, empty "trailer".

Gas is made in Prince George It has to be moved at the most 20km so why is Ottawa cheaper then US? Why are all the towns around us the same price as us, when the companys have to pay to get it there? GREED on both the goverment and company parts.

Mackenzie you don't get the picture do you? Its the two trucks that you drive that is feeding the greed of government and corporations. Ever herd of supply and demand?

Why is the cost of gasoline the same here as it is in the other parts of the country?

Partly it is the same reason why a boot made by Sorel costs about the same in Quebec, where it is manufactured, as it costs in a store at Pine Centre where they might pay $40/ square foot per year for retail space and at the Bay where they might pay $5 per square foot for retail space rent ....

The price of a 2x4 is also more or less the same across the country and is hooked into US prices .... we do not get cheaper lumber here just because we produce it .... why pick on the poor refinery and service stations?

This is a small refinery. It buys its raw product at the same world price as any other refinery in Canada does ... in fact, it may have to pay more since it does not buy volumes as large as the larger refineries do ... I do not know enough about the system, but that is the way it normally works with other products ....

In addition, it is a small refinery, so it is likely not as efficient as a large refinery, the same as a small sawmill is not as efficient as a large and modern sawmill ....

And, when it comes to the local distribution via service stations, it is likely that the average volume in a PG location is not as high as in a Vancouver location .... yet the cost of equipment and staff will be similar, thus the margin at a PG location may be less than at a Vancouver location ....

I suspect if one were to sit down with someone who knows the total system and the operating margins involved, that our prices are reasonable, given the local conditions ...

Remember, we are a small piece of the pie ... we have a population of say 80,000 in this area .... Greater Vancouver has a population 25 times that .... if the companies were to raise the price of gasoline by 1 cent per litre there, they would have to raise the price by 25 cents here to get the same gross return ....

If you were a business person and had control of the gasoline rates in the province, where would you raise the price of gasoline so that it would not raise an eyebrow?

Re-reading my post I think I may have underestimated the amount of increase that one would have to apply to the PG market in lieu of a one cent increase in the Vancouver Market.

I did a straight interpolation of population to population rather than accounting for the difference in total distance driven by the average individual in one market versus the other .... I assume that more gasoline is used per person in Vancouver than here so the price would likely have to go up by 40 to 50 cents per litre to offset a price difference of one cent per litre in Greater Vancouver .....

OPATCHO...MAYBE I WILL JUST COME TO YOUR LITTLE CAR AND STEAL YOUR GAS HA HA

Owl your overlooking the fact that about 60% of the cost of our gas goes to federal and provincial governments. How can that factor into the cost of distribution and manufacturing the product.
And Mac you can't get to far with the gas in my small car it only holds 50 liters. You have a nice day.

Opatcho ... I did not overlook it .... I did not mention it ... however, there are onlky minor differnces in gasoline prices within a country such as Canada due to tax differentials ... thus there is a 2 cents local tax on gasoline in the GVRD in order to provide a subsidy to the rapid transit system which we do not pay

As this link says: "The main driver of price disparities between countries is government policy" .... i.e. taxes ...

http://money.cnn.com/pf/features/lists/global_gasprices/price.html

here's a more in depth article about gasoline price structures ....

notice the table on the right near the top part which shows the prices of gasoline in the USA since 1950 in the year 2000 dollars ....

http://articles.roshd.ir/articles_folder/mohandesiScience/mechanic/HowstuffWorks%20How%20Gas%20Prices%20Work.htm

Here is a site which shows the different gas prices due to taxes in Canada based on the assumption that the product price is identical (which it isn't) so that you can see the varying effect of regional taxes ...

I notice in this one the transit tax in Vancouver shows up as 6 cents ....

http://www.caa.ca/gasprice/pricing.html