Editor:
Myself and every other vehicle owner on the Coast are fed up with being gouged at the gas pump. The notion that the Sunshine Coast Regional District (SCRD) is considering further exploitation is beyond words. I would pay good money to have someone explain to me why politicians think they can arbitrarily go to the gas pump every time they need to refill some financial abyss they’ve created, to artificially balance the books, or star gaze for services we can do without until we can actually afford them.
The cost of delivering fuel on the Coast is negligible, about half a cent per litre. When the business owner uses this as the excuse for the high pricing, you know their nose is growing. We also hear that “it’s the taxes.” That part we get. Although the Sunshine Coast is excluded from the transit tax, which was meant to cover services in areas such as Vancouver, we still seem to be paying for it at the pump.
If and when the SCRD finds they have exhausted all means of drawing up a reasonable financial plan to improve transit, then maybe it needs to be put on the back burner until the appropriate source of funding presents itself.
My neighbour has three dogs – he doesn’t come and ask me to pay for their licences every year just because I like dogs. Funding for transit should remain the responsibility of those who use it. These pumps were made to pump fuel not taxes!
Claude Cuff, Halfmoon Bay
