We are such small potatoes in the grand scheme of things. But, what if we didn't support or purchase anything from the two biggest fuel suppliers in Canada for awhile? Do you think this effort would have any influence over pricing?

My challenge to you is not to buy from Petro Canada or Shell Oil for the next 6 months. Then we will see what happens to prices.

We live in one of the most prosperous nations in the world and we continue to be treated the same as everyone else. That is not fair and I resent packing the load any longer.

Walk more, drive less. Buy used rather than new. Buy fuel efficiency over prestige. Take advantage of Hybrid vehicles. Consider the bus. Ride a bike. sell one of your vehicles. Car pool. Consider a motorcycle where appropriate. Maintain proper air pressure in your tires. Keep your vehicles clean and well maintained.

There is lots we can do to have an effect. What are you willing to do? Chester

Absolutely no need for this as the pice of crude has been dropping not going up...wonder what their lying, feeble excuse is this time....

I agree that it would be nice to put it to them Chester, however now that we live in a Global Economy I suspect that Oil Companies will just sell their Gas somewhere else for the same or a higher price.

I dont think that any action by us will have a long term impact on their profits, however it would hurt the little guy as usual.

Its much the same as Hydro buying up your old fridges, and telling you to install better light bulbs, etc; If you think about it for a minute why would anyone in the business of selling electricity be telling you to turn off the lights. The answer is obvious, they can get a better price by selling to the USA, so if we put our lights out, they put their lights on, and Hydro makes more money.

Same thing with gas. If we conserve it, the Oil Companies will sell it to other Countries and they will burn it. At the end of the day you will be riding your bike, and someone in Europe will be driving on your gas.

If there was a surplus of gas this situation would not exist, but becaue there is a shortage or a perceived shortage, and no competition to speak of we do not have any clout, other than to nationalize the Oil Industry in Canada. This has happened in other Countries, like Iran, Mexico, Venezuala, etc; and you can rest assured that the Americans and British were not very happy.

You may as well burn all the gas you can as soon as you can, which will force people to come up with a better way to get around. Once the gas is gone, we will have to face up to the situation.

Airlines, Armys, Navys, the Trucking and Rail Industries, etc; cannot function without oil and gas. Countries cannot function without these entities, and therefore at the end of the day (or close to it) you will see gas rationing for Mr Joe Citizen so that Countries can continue to function. The time will come when you will no longer be able to drive your car as a form of recreation, and will be restricted to and from work etc; Much like they used to do to people in Russia in the fifties and sixties.

Have a nice day.

I agree that it would be nice to put it to them Chester, however now that we live in a Global Economy I suspect that Oil Companies will just sell their Gas somewhere else for the same or a higher price.

I dont think that any action by us will have a long term impact on their profits, however it would hurt the little guy as usual.

Its much the same as Hydro buying up your old fridges, and telling you to install better light bulbs, etc; If you think about it for a minute why would anyone in the business of selling electricity be telling you to turn off the lights. The answer is obvious, they can get a better price by selling to the USA, so if we put our lights out, they put their lights on, and Hydro makes more money.

Same thing with gas. If we conserve it, the Oil Companies will sell it to other Countries and they will burn it. At the end of the day you will be riding your bike, and someone in Europe will be driving on your gas.

If there was a surplus of gas this situation would not exist, but becaue there is a shortage or a perceived shortage, and no competition to speak of we do not have any clout, other than to nationalize the Oil Industry in Canada. This has happened in other Countries, like Iran, Mexico, Venezuala, etc; and you can rest assured that the Americans and British were not very happy.

You may as well burn all the gas you can as soon as you can, which will force people to come up with a better way to get around. Once the gas is gone, we will have to face up to the situation.

Airlines, Armys, Navys, the Trucking and Rail Industries, etc; cannot function without oil and gas. Countries cannot function without these entities, and therefore at the end of the day (or close to it) you will see gas rationing for Mr Joe Citizen so that Countries can continue to function. The time will come when you will no longer be able to drive your car as a form of recreation, and will be restricted to and from work etc; Much like they used to do to people in Russia in the fifties and sixties.

Have a nice day.

It was 1.209 a litre on Denman near Davie yesterday afternoon ...... When I got back to PG it was still 1.059 on the way in from the airport .....

"We live in one of the most prosperous nations in the world and we continue to be treated the same as everyone else"

And the Europeans in the economic union who number over 350 million are chopped liver?? ... they have been paying considerably more than North America for decades ..... they tend to produce fewer gas guzzlers, run more electric trains, etc., etc. ......

and the reason why is?????

"wonder what their lying, feeble excuse is this time...."

geez ... I do not believe this peanut gallery at times .... free market economy on the one hand ... then the next day not understanding supply and demand ....

they have the supply .... we have the demand ....

why does Alberta not sell its oil to Canada for less, such as is done in Venezuela????

Why does BC not sell its natural gas to BC residences for less?

Either you control the price, or you let the market dictate the situation ....

Europe is more densely populated than Canada is. Closer together with trains and subways. In Vancouver, so I understand the GVRD going way back couldn't decide whether to focus on automobile travel or have trains and subways moving people instaed. They decided to focus on both. Portland went the freeway route. To get to the other side of Portland you just hop on the freeway and get of at yer exit. No freeways like that in the Lower Mainland. Just crummy clogged highways. Then the ninnies down there decided to twin the Port Mann bridge. To move cars. Not people. They should have a train system from Chilliwack to downtown Vancouver instead of more cars. Politicians and such cannot see past the next election, so IMO this is what it has come to. Glad I don't live there. To get on the Port Mann bridge from Surrey it is four lanes into one lane just about all day. Suckers!!!

yup, the gas prices up there in the glorious north........or frozen north.....depending on your perspective.:-)...well I diverge here......the gas prices are well less than here.....I was so happy to see it had finally dropped from 120.9....
I agree, twining the Port Mann is a narrowm minded short term solution, freeways always are. Can you imagine what the lower mainland would have lost, what it would be like, if the freeway builders of the 60's had managed to build massive ugly freeways along the harbour at waters edge?. The only way to control the use of roads is to allow the congestion to build. People and companies are then forced to find alternative solutions to the " commute" That can only be a good thing

If you've noticed, it's always Petro Canada that starts the gas increases here in town (specifically the on on 20th ave). The last three increases were started there a day or two before the rest of the stations followed suit and there were a couple of attempts to boost the price beforehand...but none of the other stations followed, which made them lower it again.

Any guesses where I'll never buy gas again?

If you've noticed, it's always Petro Canada that starts the gas increases here in town (specifically the on on 20th ave). The last three increases were started there a day or two before the rest of the stations followed suit and there were a couple of attempts to boost the price beforehand...but none of the other stations followed, which made them lower it again.

Any guesses where I'll never buy gas again?

Here in Quesnel it's usually Shell that raises prices first. Petro-Can and Chevron are never far behind.

We need to also consider the fact that many of us have a tendancy to panic buy gas whenever the price starts to rise.The oil companies love that!And regardless of what the politico's tell us,it IS a scam.And they know it.
There really is very little that we can do to fight this.We are at the mercy of useless politicians and oil companies.
However,I do agree with Chester.I like to boycott certian stations on a matter principal even though I know it really doesn't do much.It just plain makes me FEEL better.And Petro-Can is my perfered choice.
I think the only thing that may make a very tiny bit of difference is to buy minimal amounts of gas.Don't fill the tank and don't buy ANY gas until you absolutely have to.And ignore the rising prices and refuse to panic buy.What the hell,if they don't get you this time,they will get the next so it really doesn't make much difference!
And put on the political pressure.Scream loudly!!!

oh ya...forgot one thing which many already know....if you can go to a card lock station,you can sometimes save 1 or 2 cents per liter even though it is not usually as handy as a station downtown.

Petro can credit cards give you a saving of 2 cents per lite locally. In Kmaloops it tends ot be 5 cents .. same in some places in the lower mainland .. I actually had one place in the Okanagan credit 8 cents per litre.

Don not know why the difference. Maybe someone on here knows.

We have had $64 per barrel crude in the past and price was about $1.00 per liter for unleaded. Every time we have an oscillation in crude, the oil companies find a new higher profit margin and count upon the short memories of consumers. The reason they can do this is BigOil (Shell, Esso, PetroCan and Husky) have been shutting refineries for 15 years and not building new refineries. They did this when the big gas wars of 1986 to 1991 happened and BigOil CEO's swore "this would never happen again".

BigOil has systematically squeezed the "independents" and actually dictate the selling price to their own brandname retailers. Our government has a closed eye to this since they get bigtime political contributions from all BigOil companies and do not want to destroy that windfall. That is also why a "gas price inquiry" by our government NEVER finds "any evidence of price fixing".

Exxon actually threatened their commercial bank that they would change banks if that bank loaned money for an independent oil refinery in Texas for crude feedstock about 5 years ago. It was on CBC.

There is only one solution and that is for the government to take over an oil company like Trudeau did with PetroCan. I remember vividly when Trudeau warned BigOil that "retail prices must go down as fast as they go up in relation to variable crude prices or there will be regulation". Nowadays we all know prices go UP within 2 hours of a crude increase but take 4 weeks to come back down. BigOil LOVES crude fluctuations since consumers get totally confused.