EDITORIAL – Horgan should just admit he can’t solve gasoline prices
An editorial by Mel Rothenburger.
THE PRICE AT THE PUMP in B.C. has been all over the place for the past couple of weeks. It’s up, it’s down, it’s up again. As of this writing, gasbuddy.com tells us a litre of regular gasoline is selling at an average of about 1.54.
In Vancouver, off and on, it’s breached the 1.70 mark. But despite the occasional blip, gas in Kamloops has been hovering around 1.32.9.
Reasons for price volatility given by the experts range from a shortage to higher diesel prices to the switch from winter to summer gas. Some will blame it on the carbon tax but that only accounts for a penny of it.
The stability in Kamloops in comparison to some other places reinforces the suspicion that nobody knows what they’re talking about when trying to explain why gas prices do what they do.
John Horgan is among them. When Vancouver prices started going up three weeks ago he talked about “relief” for those who couldn’t afford the increases.
He’s backed off on that even though Vancouver prices are higher now than they were then.
His next gambit was that high gas prices should be an issue in the federal election.
Then he played the refinery card, which comes up as often as gas prices go up. The oil industry should build them, he said.
But wait. Alberta should build them, he now says, because they have the oil. Or maybe media millionaire David Black should dust off his plan to build one near Kitimat, which he shelved because they cost billions of dollars and take years to build. Jason Kenney can’t change that.
Horgan should just admit he can’t do any more than anybody else about gas prices. Which is nothing.
Mel Rothenburger is a former mayor of Kamloops and newspaper editor. He publishes the ArmchairMayor.ca opinion website, and is a director on the Thompson-Nicola Regional District board. He can be reached at mrothenburger@armchairmayor.ca.
ArmchairMayor.ca 
Can’t agree with this.
Horgan could CERTAINLY reduce the price at the pump by reducing the amount of tax.
A 10% tax on $1 is 10 cents. That same 10% tax on $2 is 20 cents.
Horgan could lower the tax to 7% and still get more tax revenue on the higher-priced gas than the government got at 10% on the cheaper gas.
He doesn’t do it because NDP gov’ts don’t lower taxes.
They greedily covet ALL our money and just need ways to do it.
Higher gas prices is one way.
Very high fines for traffic violations with strict enforcement is another.
In the long term, which a gov’t should always work toward, Horgan could facilitate pipelines to move more oil, increase the supply and lower the cost.
But he doesn’t. Because he’s a lousy premier.
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You’re right, Mel. We’re all held in thrall by an industry that treats us all as the wagging tail of the dog. The hell with saving the world.
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