Gas prices push $1.50 as carbon tax kicks in
Many drivers rethinking their options in wake of latest boost at the pumps
Carla Wilson and Sandra McCulloch, Times Colonist
Published: Wednesday, July 02, 2008
Greater Victoria gas prices jumped to their latest record high yesterday with the introduction of B.C.'s 2.4 cents per litre carbon tax.
The jump was actually more than the tax, with Greater Victoria prices for regular gas settling at $1.494, up from $1.469 -- a 2.5-cent increase.
Vancouver prices surged higher, to $1.520 at many stations, up a full dime from the day before.
Email to a friendEmail to a friendPrinter friendlyPrinter friendly
Font:
* *
* *
* *
* *
AddThis Social Bookmark Button
The average rate nationally for regular fuel, according to a weekly report from petroleum industry research group MJ Ervin & Associates, was $1.395 a litre, up 1.1 cents from a week earlier.
Gas costs have been climbing along with the prices of crude oil, which have hit records of more than $140 US per barrel. Economists have said prices are up because of rising demand around the world, but political leaders in Saudi Arabia have also blamed market speculators.
B.C's carbon tax is meant to encourage people to switch to a more energy-efficient and environmentally sensitive way of life; it is set to increase to 7.24 cents per litre by 2012.
Higher costs have prompted the Carr-Meehan family of Oak Bay to cut back on their driving. "We try to do one trip a day," Megan Carr-Meehan said yesterday. With three children, aged seven, four and five months, they need a vehicle to get around because the children are too young to walk far, she said.
The gas prices have also changed things for Max and Cari Durando, who travelled north for a day trip to Nanaimo yesterday, paying $25 to fill up their motorcycle. The price "will cost less than lunch," said Max, who figured that the same trip in one of their autos would run between $60 and $80.
They don't use their vehicles much anyway, preferring to walk from their Vic West Railyards home to their downtown jobs.
"I think we put more miles on the bike (motorcycle) than we did on the two cars combined per year," Max said.
Premier Gordon Campbell has said the carbon tax has to be looked at as part of a larger picture, saying that a series of tax reductions in other areas will make the increase revenue neutral.
NDP Leader Carole James is campaigning against the carbon tax. She held a press conference Monday at the James Bay New Horizons centre.
"One senior said they're already doing their part by doing all their errands on two days a week, for example, so they don't use their car that often," James said later.
The $100 "climate action dividend" cheques B.C. residents received won't go far toward making seniors' homes more energy-efficient, she said. "People felt they hadn't been talked to. It's one more pressure on fixed-income budgets, that people are already struggling with."
Suggestions that the NDP is hypocritical in asking people to send their $100 cheques to them are misplaced, she said. An e-mail was sent out to NDP supporters because people had been calling and asking how they could donate the funds.
Maureen Bader, B.C. director of the Canadian Taxpayers Federation, is another carbon tax opponent. "Implementing climate change policies such as the carbon tax, especially when gasoline prices are at record highs, hurts family incomes, is detrimental to the economy and is unlikely to be neutral over the long term."