Ottawa needs to do better job monitoring oil industry: analyst
Posted August 28, 2017 2:54 pm.
This article is more than 5 years old.
VANCOUVER (NEWS 1130) – If you’re having a tough time believing gas prices are jumping here because of what’s happening south of the border, you’re not alone.
A well-known analyst and former politician says Ottawa needs to do a better job monitoring the oil industry.
Dan McTeague with GasBuddy.com, says, in the United States, every drop of fuel produced and sold is accounted for, but that’s not the case in Canada, where GST is also collected on every litre of gas sold.
“Ottawa’s taking it’s take as far as five per cent. You’re paying a substantial premium for lack of oversight and transparency. We just don’t know where we stand most of the time.”
He adds drivers here are paying up to 15 cents more per litre.
“High taxes and of course, a lack of adequate supply of gasoline always makes Vancouver far more pricey when it comes to moving your vehicles,” he says.
“Metro Vancouver, although we have a small refinery, it doesn’t provide enough to meet our own needs, so we have to bring some gasoline in from the United States and of course, some from Edmonton.”
McTeague is now predicting prices shouldn’t go up more than four cents a litre because of hurricane-related shortages in the US.
Refinery disruptions in hurricane-hammered Texas are currently being blamed for prices going up in Canada. Earlier this month, McTeague was also talking about shortages in Oregon and other US states drawing solar eclipse watchers.
