Gas Prices Are Increasing - CANADIANS WANT GAS POLLUTERS TO PAY!!!, page 1

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Topic started on 29-4-2011 @ 05:19 PM by Skywatcher2011

I found this news articles interesting to read, though it may be short:

Gas prices could rise, but Canadians want polluters to pay: Layton

www.theglobeandmail.com... 368
Posted: April 29, 2011

Jack Layton, who has campaigned on promises to create a gas-price watchdog, conceded there’s no guarantee that his proposed climate-change policies won’t be passed on to consumers at the pumps – but argued oil companies are trying to scare Canadians about the costs.

Conservative Leader Stephen Harper claimed this week that Mr. Layton’s plan to impose a cap-and-trade system on large carbon emitters would raise the price of gas by 10 cents a litre. Other analysts have opined that it could lead to extra costs of just a few cents a few cents a litre at the pumps.

So what is it about those "extra few cents' talk all about anyways? A linked article to this states this:

Harper’s running on fumes by mongering fear at the pumps

www.theglobeandmail.com...
Posted: April 29, 2011

The last refuge of opportunistic populism – if the dying days of the 2011 election are any hint – is woefully misleading rhetoric on gasoline prices.

Given the high prices Canadians are paying for fuel, the only real surprise is that it took this long for the parties to start using the pinch at the pump as a campaign wedge.

Though it doesn't say much about how Canadian tax payers will be affected by whatever strategy either Torries, NDP, or Liberals plan to employ, the topic of "controlling" gas prices at the pumps scares the living bejesus out of me!

There is NO WAY gas prices will go down. Moreover, to maintain low gas prices means that there will be taxes employed onto Canadians through other means. For crying out loud, we already have a "Carbon Tax" on all electronic goods and related goods such as CDs, etc...

As we continue to read the above article, it further says this:

First up was Conservative Leader Stephen Harper, wrongly accusing the NDP of a plot to send gasoline prices soaring through a cap-and-trade system.

As it turns out, the NDP proposal won’t do so, at least not very much – largely because it’s a woefully inadequate response to the challenge of climate change, encompassing only about half the emissions that the Canadian economy spits out each year. Not included is one of the single biggest sources of emissions: those from the tailpipes of drivers, otherwise known as voters.

Mr. Harper may have jumped the gun a bit in slamming the NDP, but he and others could be forgiven for assuming that the NDP would take climate change seriously enough to propose an effective cap-and-trade program. And the NDP plan would increase prices – just not by as much as Mr. Harper claimed.

Less generously, Mr. Harper continues to pretend that his own party has anything approaching a coherent plan for containing greenhouse-gas emissions.

The reality is, having successively demonized carbon taxes and cap and trade, the Conservative approach to reducing emissions will likely devolve to Soviet-style regulation. That is clumsy, and at best, at least as costly as a carbon tax, according to Andrew Leach, economist at the University of Alberta’s school of business.

Of course, there were ample economic misstatements on Thursday, and not just by the Conservatives. Mr. Layton, too, was busy at work, floating the tired idea of another inquiry into the great mystery of high gasoline prices. (Hint: Dig up those notes from the second day of economics class, the ones that have supply and demand curves scrawled on them.)

The NDP Leader has said he would appoint an ombudsman to investigate whether gas retailers are colluding to gouge consumers, and might even regulate gas prices.

Defending Big Oil is a lonely game, but here is the reality. Mr. Layton’s ombudsman will find what every one of the many exhaustive committees, special investigators and probes have discovered. The gasoline industry is intensely competitive, to the point where it’s close to a textbook case of pure market competition.

As for capping prices, the only hitches would be a sudden drop in supply, 1970s-style lineups at the pumps and the possible need to abrogate NAFTA.

The irony is this. If Canadians really want to save on energy costs, they need to look at themselves, not oil companies. Demand pushing too close to available supply is the piston behind price gyrations at the pump.

Cut demand – say, through a carbon tax or comprehensive cap-and-trade program – and you cut prices.

So there we go, it starts to talk about market competition and laws of supply and demand.

I agree however, that Canadians, much like our US counterparts, need to look at just how much we are consuming gasoline. It seems like the big costs are arising by how much we drive (ie. need vs wanting to drive). I am sure we will save more by driving more conservatively and only drive if we really need to drive.

What do you think ATS members? Whether we like it or not, we are all a part of this rising gasoline price trend!

reply posted on 29-4-2011 @ 05:28 PM by Cobaltic1978

We are being ripped off and OPEC are holding us all to ransom. This stems from about 12-18 months ago when certain elements of the U.S tried bringing down OPEC.

This is pay back time and it appears there is absolutely Jack we can do about it. Unless of course someone can come up with a way of running our cars on water. Which by the way, there was a thread about earlier this evening.

reply posted on 29-4-2011 @ 07:40 PM by aboutface

reply to post by Cobaltic1978

Haha I was a little late on catching yer pun.

I have to admit that for a while there I had to drive quite a distance to work and was burning a lot of fuel in my gas guzzler. But try as I did, I could not find a closer place to live.

reply posted on 29-4-2011 @ 07:52 PM by topherman420

I worked for shell for 2 years and managed a small station in Seaforth (ontario canada). Part of the training manual (which was hundreds of damn pages including a video *YAWN) was a part where it broke down where the price of gas comes from in case we were approached by a customer with the very same question. Its been about 8 years but from what i can remember it was a small (pretty darn small) part actual crude price, then the rest was processing, shipping, marketing, a couple taxes i believe.....needless to say it was a pretty full pie. I remember asking the manager at the time "And you want me to actually tell people this?"
Thankfully the question actually never came up in two years so i didnt have to divulge how much crap is put on. Sometimes the media portrays the wrong image that gas is strictly crude price while its a bunch of other stuff too.

reply posted on 29-4-2011 @ 07:53 PM by Duckbutter