This is a letter sent by Scott Reid while in opposition in 2005 on gas prices outlining Harpers Plan to lower fuel prices but was never implemented once the Conservatives got elected.
It is now time for the Harper government to act on these measures and for the media outlets to question Harper and Scott Reid about this Letter.
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Please feel free to use ,forward on or print this letter but omit my home address if printed also this letter is going out to 400 newspaper out across Ontario with other provinces to follow also your readers should be encouraged to contact their local MP and Harper to show their displeasure on high gas prices.
Ross Ayotte – Smiths Falls Ontario
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And it begins with one voice.
When Ontario went from PST + GST to HST, our floating tax percentage went up from 5% to 13%, didn’t it? Don’t leave Ontario MPP’s out of the equation either.
Prices at Canada gas pumps oscillate wildly, sometimes changing several times a day. The rises and falls are far from random, however. Studies and market observers say it is an attempt by big oil to ratchet up the cost of a fill-up as high as possible.
It’s Easter weekend and, if all goes as usual, motorists will be hopping mad during the holiday. Their frustration will boil over when the needle reaches the red zone and they pull into the nearest filling station: first at the pump, then at the cash register.
That’s where they’ll note with dismay that the oil companies never tire of playing the same old game in the run-up to Easter. As in previous years, gas prices soared in the days leading up to the Friday before Easter — just when millions of Canadian’s head off on vacation.
In 2009, prices jumped by as much as 11 cents per liter ($0.54 per gallon) compared to weeks prior, as was documented in the Ottawa area by a report released last year by Canadian’s Federal Cartel Office. At the time, the Ottawa-based anti-trust agency said it was “plausible” that the oil industry was “purposely raising prices.”
The study generated a great deal of attention, but failed to impact business practices in the sector because the Cartel Office was unable to prove that the companies had engaged in illegal price-fixing. Now, one year after the report’s release, the profiteering practices of the oil companies have reached such a dimension that it would actually warrant a new official investigation.
Prices have never fluctuated as wildly as they have over the past few months.
Motorists will have to brace themselves for yet another round of price gouging over the Easter holiday. Indeed, the last taboo appears to have fallen in the fuel business. At oil company headquarters, staffs have recently started working on Saturdays and Sundays. This allows them to raise retail prices even on holidays. It’s endemic of the new pricing regime that the oil industry is trying to implement: The idea is to create systematic confusion.
The erratic prices at the pump frustrate consumers, who feel trapped and exploited. High gasoline prices tear large holes in their budgets and damage the entire economy. The prices are like an additional consumption tax: The more people spend on energy, the less available income they have for other products and services.
In the refinery business, they even jointly operate a number of facilities. Their parent companies, including BP, Royal Dutch Shell and ExxonMobil, rank at the top of the list of the world’s largest companies.
Today, companies are pursuing an entirely different tactic: They cause confusion — and they do it on purpose. “Non-transparency is their business,” says Shell, and he explains the logic: Motorists are supposed to lose track of price trends. Then they can’t really tell anymore whether fuel has just become more or less expensive.
Whenever fuel prices rise, politicians like to talk tough. They can easily express their indignation, and they take great pleasure in lambasting the oil companies — which never fails to prompt nods of approval on all sides. Even Green Party politicians become outraged about overcharging at the pump, says the environmental party’s deputy parliamentary floor leader.
Motorists ultimately have no choice but to stimulate the market with the rather limited options available to them. For instance, they can adapt their driving habits to the high gas prices: 37 percent of Canadians intend to spend less time behind the wheel in the future. Or they will very consciously take their business to small or medium-sized service stations in an effort to stimulate the competition.
Or they will opt to purchase a particularly fuel-efficient model the next time they buy a car. Many motorists are now closely watching their fuel consumption — but certainly not everyone: One in seven newly registered vehicles in Canada is a gas-guzzling SUV, the highest share ever.
For these consumers, gasoline is apparently not yet expensive enough.
http://inothernewz.com/gas-prices-surge-to-30-cents-a-gallon-in-saudi-arabia/
Gas prices rising exorbitantly just before the Easter Holiday is a local thing. It’s the gas stations that control it.
The first factor that makes up the price of gas at your local station is crude oil suppliers. This makes up about 59% of the price you pay for gas and it is determined by the world’s oil-exporting countries, particularly OPEC, the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries. The amount of crude oil that these countries produce determines the price per barrel of oil.*^
Many thanks
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