Why is gas so expensive in canada?

Question

they make the stuff here i think if we quit selling it to the usa the price would come down. isnt $ 2.29 a tad much for a liter of gas thats 10.30 a gallon . it cost $123.00 just to fill my little economy car and 360.00 just to fill my half ton what do you think

Answer 1

I believe there are 3.78 litres in a US gallon, and about 4.5 litres in an imperial gallon.

So at best it would be $8.65 for a US gallon and there is no way in h**l it cost you $123.00 to fill a "little economy car" in Canada.

I drive a smaller car and the most it has ever cost me, in a remote area was $58 to fill it.

My car holds 45 9 litres of gas.

At present the Kamloops area has the highest prices in the country, gas here ranges from 126.9 to 132.9 so you are stretching the truth A LOT

Cdns have to get together and boycott big name gas stations across the country and get some competition going - if no one buys gas from them, they WILL lower their prices.

You dont have to stop buying gas - just DONT buy from the two biggest players who make the most money on their price gouging of Cdns

Canada grumbles as gas prices soar again

A lot of Canadians are feeling gas pains again this week as they empty their wallets to fill up their tanks. Gas prices are soaring; in fact, energy costs are going up all over. And they're trickling down to consumers.

In Corner Brook, Newfoundland, the average gas price is at 84.9 cents a litre. In Montreal, it's 83.3 cents and in Whitehorse gas prices are hovering around 81.5 cents. Petroleum industry analyst Michael Ervin says the latest increase has been gradual but steady.

"Over the last few weeks, we've had pump price increases of anywhere from five to seven cents per litre on the average," he says.

And that's got drivers fuming. So much so that a group of motorists in Gatineau, Quebec, organized a boycott of Petro-Canada stations Tuesday. They say the tactic worked: prices fell to 69.9 cents a litre from 73.9 cents over the course of the day. Whether they'll stay that low remains to be seen.

The Canadian Automobile Association says the federal government needs to take action to ease the pain at the pumps by reducing taxes by a minimum of four to five cents.

"The Minister of Finance can reduce gas prices right now by reducing the excise tax and applying the GST to the pre-tax price of gasoline rather than as a tax on tax," says CAA President Brian Hunt.

Ontario Premier Mike Harris says the latest price increases confirm his belief there is not enough competition in the oil industry. He suggests it may be time to separate the retail, wholesale and refining operations of oil companies to spark price wars.

But Ontario Consumer Affairs Minister Harold Runciman says he feels that things aren't that bad. Canadians actually have the second lowest gas prices in the industrialized world. Runciman says he was in England recently, and found that gas there is $2 a litre.

He has some advice for motorists who feel they're paying too much for gas: sell your SUV and drive a smaller, more efficient car.

Answer 2

To Forever5 and anyone else who thinks gas prices are high because of weird conspiracies between government and oil companies or any other form of greed; nope, you're not even close.

The price of gasoline is expensive because the cost of extracting oil from the ground is expensive. The reason for that is because all the cheap easy-to-get oil is now gone and the only stuff left is the hard to get stuff. It costs companies more to get the oil for our oil hungry world. Places like China and India are demanding large amounts of oil and gas for their burgeoning economies and, in short, the demand for oil exceeds the readily obtainable supply.

Also, I don't know about you, but I haven't seen gas prices at $2.29 here. If you're worried about rising gas prices, get rid of your half ton truck and stop driving so much.

Finally, I read a lot that Canada makes its own oil so why do we supply the US. The reason for that is that Canada signed the NAFTA treaty in which we agreed to sell oil to the US.

Answer 3

You're asking this in the Wpg subcategory, and I can tell you that when I filled up at a Petro Can here in Winnipeg yesterday, it was 125.9 cent/litre, minus the 7 cent/litre discount for buying on a weekend...so unless it's gone up a dollar and four cents in one day...I think you're wrong on the price, there, buddy.

Answer 4

yeah.. where do you live?

In the GTA (Toronto) the highest it goes is 1.25

Answer 5

Simple, taxes.

Gas is a global commodity. It has absolutely nothing to do where it's produced.

Where on earth do you thing the government gets all the money for Canada's social programs.

Answer 6

$2.29 a litre?  Where are you?  I have never seen that price, and I live in Winnipeg.  We pay as low as $1.19, that's a huge difference.  Our average price is $1.224.

Actually, for many years, gasoline has averaged the same price, within a penny, as the US.  The difference is in taxes.

Answer 7

Gas is very expensive all over.Very expensive in Athens Greece as well.Yia sou.

Answer 8

There is nowhere in Canada that gas is the price you have quoted.  I have a wee car and it does not cost that much to fill it either.

Gas has a lot of tax incorporated into it by the government.  Org. they justified it by saying it was for upkeep of federal/provincial roads...but if you have driven the roads lately you will know that there is no way all that money is going to upkeep...more like an MP's raise. :P

Answer 9

We don't know what your taxes are.

coughcoughcoughcough

Answer 10

The government is getting a lot of money from the tax on gas here in Canada, so they aren't going to help anytime soon.

Where is gas $2.29?  It is $1.20 down the street from me and I thought that was bad!

Answer 11

well im pretty sure that its not $2.29 a leter, its only like $1.25 max.