Regulate Gas Prices, Boost Investment in Public Transit

It is profiteering, not taxes, which is causing the outrageous prices at the pump. Enough is enough, it’s time to regulate gas prices while boosting investment in public transit in order to provide more alternatives to driving.

Sign the petition HERE.

The following recommendation was adopted at our May 21, 2019, regular meeting. 

Subject:  Regulate Gas Prices, Boost Investment in Public Transit

Data from CCPA-BC (https://www.policynote.ca/over-a-barrel/)

BECAUSE British Columbian’s are facing record-high gas prices, reaching over $1.70 per litre, a 55-cent increase since 2016; and

BECAUSE during the time that has passed from 2016 to the present day, taxes on gasoline have increased roughly 6.3-cents per litre; 1.2-cents on April 1 of 2018 and 2019, and just under four cents per litre in federal GST levied on the overall pump price; and

BECAUSE during that same time, the margin taken by refineries has ballooned, reached as high as 55 cents per litre in April of this year, and accounting for 18 cents of the price increase witnessed since 2016; nearly three-times as much as has been caused by tax increases; and

BECAUSE increases in the margin taken by retailers since 2016 has also increased, roughly 2.6 cents per litre,

THE VANCOUVER AND DISTRICT LABOUR COUNCIL WILL note that it is profiteering, not taxation, which is driving outrageous prices as the pumps; and

THE VANCOUVER AND DISTRICT LABOUR COUNCIL WILL FURTHER therefore not support the elimination or reduction of taxes on gasoline, which would reward the profiteering of big oil, and instead should be invested to boost public transit and otherwise assist with the reduction of congestion and greenhouse gas emissions; and

THE VANCOUVER AND DISTRICT LABOUR COUNCIL WILL FINALLY instead support the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives – BC Office, in their conclusion that the Provincial Government should empower the BC Utilities Commission to regulate automobile fuel as has been successfully done in the maritime provinces.

More information on this issue on the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives website.