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LETTER: North Shore drivers need to collectively put their foot down

Dear editor: How long will it be before North Shore drivers put their collective foot down on something other than the accelerator? My own foot had long been ready for a change but the morning of April 16 crowned it all. At 7:55 a.m.
gas
Driving more efficiently can help you save money as gas prices soar past $1.50 per litre in the Lower Mainland. file photo Mike Wakefield, North Shore News

Dear editor:

How long will it be before North Shore drivers put their collective foot down on something other than the accelerator?

My own foot had long been ready for a change but the morning of April 16 crowned it all. At 7:55 a.m., I noticed the gas price at one station was $1.56.9. Unable to do it right then, I made a note to fill up on the way home.

So just over an hour later, I drove into that station, only to note the price had increased to $1.69.9.

A 13 cent per litre increase in 65 minutes.

I was furious because I knew the pump would draw that $1.70 gasoline out of the same underground fuel tank that, earlier, had been priced at $1.56.9. This gaming of the market is little short of the illegal price-fixing addressed in Canada's Competition Act.

Although the act says price-fixing conspiracies are hard to prove, reasonable people understand that, when all neighbourhood gas stations raise their prices by the same amount, there is a tacit agreement between them not to compete.

So what can we do about it when scarce/absent transit is not an option? Well, to ease today's crisis in Metro Vancouver, the B.C. NDP must immediately lower its tax take by 10 cents a litre through to the end of summer.

Concurrently, provincial and federal governments should enact legislation to require all gasoline corporations to set their individual prices for each week by midnight the Sunday before, not to be changed until midnight the following week.

That at least would stop the unpredictable hour-by-hour gaming that occurs now.

Gas stations want price-fixing? Give it to them - on drivers' terms.

Elizabeth James
North Vancouver

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