I was in Vancouver and Victoria last weekend and their gas prices reinforced my impression that we on the Sunshine Coast are being gouged.
The Esso station on Georgia Street in Vancouver (some of the priciest real estate in downtown Vancouver) displayed a price of $1.37.9; stations along 41st and 49th avenues were even lower. Remember that Metro Vancouver pays 15 cents a litre transit tax, which the Sunshine Coast does not. So the price of gas in Vancouver is $1.22.9 a litre. Victoria was even lower; some stations were at $1.27.9 a litre. It surely costs as much to ship gasoline to Vancouver Island as it does to the Sunshine Coast.As well, prices in Gibsons are consistently two cents lower than Sechelt. Does it cost two cents a litre to truck gas 20 km up the Coast?
The standard excuses of "supply and demand" and "free enterprise and competition" will no longer placate us, nor will any platitudes about riding bicyclesand taking transit. Fess up, gas companies. Why the high gas prices on the Sunshine Coast? I await your latest spin.
Sue Carson
Halfmoon Bay
