Editor:
The following letter was addressed to Premier David Eby and shared with Coast Reporter.
2023 begins with the outstanding issue of the unjust high price of gasoline charged at the pumps on the Sunshine Coast. We alerted the community of our concern in January of 2019. This was followed by a resolution for regulation of the price of gas to Premier Horgan and a detailed submission to the BC Utilities Commission. The Commission found that residents of BC were indeed paying too much for gasoline. We agreed with that finding but have an even more egregious problem. We are paying an additional minimum of ten cents per litre more than in Vancouver while our gas tax is ten cents per litre less
Our research, during the past year, using bcgasprices.com proves price gouging.
Canada Energy Regulator reporting on Provincial and Territorial Energy Profiles-British Columbia found the per capita gasoline use in 2019 was 1,066 litres. The Sunshine Coast’s population is approximately 32,000 (2021 census). This means that approximately 34 million litres of gasoline are used by people on the Sunshine Coast. If the price is ten cents per litre more, then the over payment to the fuel companies is about $3.4 million. This money leaves the Sunshine Coast as profit for the multinational oil corporations that are already heavily subsidized by taxpayers. $3.4 million left in the pockets of citizens could do a lot to help with the high prices we also pay at the grocery store.
The major gasoline distributors post their wholesale price daily. On Friday, December 30, 2022, Petro Canada’s wholesale price in Nanaimo, BC was $1.08 per litre and Gas Buddy showed retailers in Nanaimo selling fuel for $1.449 per litre while the fuel in Gibsons was $1.669 per litre. The BC Utilities Commission reported there were irregularities in fuel prices, over a 12-month study in Gibsons, when compared to similar populations in BC.
We are asking this government to introduce the same regulations as reported by the Canada Fuels Association (CFA) where Quebec, New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, Newfoundland and Labrador and Prince Edward Island have incorporated a regulated market to ensure retail price stability, preventing excessively high fuel costs in one market region.
Sincerely,
Laurie Davis, Ed Erickson,
Gasoline Committee
Miyuki Shinkai President,
Sunshine Coast Labour Council
