Friday night, Eastern Canada was handed a 3 to 4 cent per litre increase across the board even though the market was unchanged. Refiners in eastern Canada, who constitute a virtual monopoly in every market thanks to an irrevelant Competition Act/Bureau, will now enjoy – at your expense – a full 17 cents per litre (net profit) for turning, or should we say importing, refined product from the United States and Europe.
This is what happens when our federal government refuses to curb commodities speculation, destroy a weekly petroleum status report available to American’s and European’s, and allows successive shutdowns of key refineries in Eastern Canada (Montreal-East Shell refinery, September 2010).
Given Ottawa is raking in over $2 million per day by applying it’s 5% GST to the ever increasing price, why aren’t they rebating this added burden to consumers as was done in 2000 and 2002? You are, after all, paying for Ottawa’s reckless indifference.
It was July 2008 when we last saw these prices. Back then, crude traded for $145 per barrel. Today, it was $108 … do the math, it’s a rip-off anyway you slice it.