Gas Prices Continue to Rise
Since the war waged against Ukraine began, gas prices have been on the rise internationally. Thus far, most areas are seeing a rise of approximately 20 cents per litre, and experts say there is no end currently in sight. Patrick De Haan, head of petroleum analysis at GasBuddy, told Global News that “it does look like the pain will get worse.” The price of oil is the highest it has been in seven years, and it is beyond the control of our government since Russia controls 8% of the world’s oil.
On a provincial level, Doug Ford, who originally campaigned for premier by promising lower gas prices for Ontarians, has not yet taken any action against price gouging. The NDP leader, Andrea Horwath, said this:
“The premier said he’d take on the big oil companies — he hasn’t done so. He said he would take on overnight gouging — he hasn’t done so. The oil companies are flush with money. They have billions of dollars in cash and the drivers have record bills. So my question to the premier is: why hasn’t he stopped these big oil companies from gouging Ontario drivers like he promised he would do?”
Green Party Leader Mike Schreiner has combated this response by agreeing that Ford is wrong, but adding that the solution should have been to finance the implementation and encouragement of electric transportation, and that hasn’t been done. In the meantime, Ford continues to blame the federal carbon tax as recently as last week. While the carbon tax does account for $40 per tonne (a metric tonne is 1135 litres) of gasoline, it has been unchanging for the last eleven months and is not responsible for the current rise; the rising cost of crude oil barrels is the cause of rising prices for consumers.
Federally, Canada has announced that it will not import any oil from Russia as retribution for the attack on Ukraine. This is mostly symbolic, though, because Canada has not imported any oil from the Russian Federation since 2019. The rest of the world is also following suit with Trudeau and rejecting Russian imports for fear of being financially caught up in the strict sanctions placed against the country. By cutting Russia off financially, Putin should run out of resources sooner than later and his army will be severely economically weakened. But why does this affect Canadian gas prices if we were not getting gas from Russia anyway? The global supply of oil has just gotten even smaller than it already was, so Canada is left to pay competitive prices that secure a supply of oil. The rarer oil becomes, the more expensive it will be due to the fact that the gas market is so globally interconnected.
Globally, consumers will continue to see gas prices rise. There is not yet any certainty to when the rising prices will hit their peak, but they are likely to continue to rise. The smartest choice at this time is to fill up while you can because, despite the all-time high, gas prices are still to go up yet. While these rising prices have a definite negative impact on all Canadians at this time, including the projected rise in food prices, it is a small price compared to that of the Ukrainians currently fighting for their lives. Tough sanctions on Russia will continue for as long as necessary, which we will all feel the effect of in varying levels.