It is not only far cheaper. A lot of that gas that growing numbers of Canadians appear to be driving across the border for comes from Canada since this country just happens to be the largest importer of crude – most it from the Harper government’s coveted tar fields – to the United States.
Canadians getting far more hosed at the pumps than Americans. An our country has all that oil!
Yet while the price of a U.S. gallon’s worth of gas is approaching $5 on the Ontario side of the border, Joe Somers notes below that a gallon of gas can be bought this February 25 for $3.54 at station on Native reserve lands near Lewiston, N.Y. and, as NAL’s publisher Doug Draper discovered, a gallon of regular gas, was selling for $2.69.9 at a station on the Main Street of Buffalo, N.Y.
Now Canada’s Harper government is pushing to export even more of our crude to the United States and China. Forget about “energy independence.”
In Canada, we don’t even have the facilities to refine enough oil for domestic consumption. What kind of an energy program for a country is that? Check out Joe Somers’ comments, then tell us what you think in the comment boxes below.
Gas Prices and our Prime Minister
By Joseph Somers
In a recent television appearance hosted by CBC news anchor Peter Mansbridge, Prime Minister Stephen Harper’s response to the question: ‘Why are gas prices so high in Canada?’ was that gas prices here are governed by market prices.
Yet, this February 25 in Saunders Settlement New York, just across the Niagara River an American gallon of gasoline or 3.785 litres Canadian was “marketed” at $3.54 American
In Niagara, Ontario a litre of gasoline is being “marketed” at $1.26.9 and if one equates costs based on the 3.785 gallon then Canadians are, as usual, getting shafted as the cost to us is over $4.80 per American gallon.
One might ask the Prime Minister, is the United States not part of the overall market place? Give Canadian citizens the reason for the difference in price without the B.S.
Joseph Somers lives in the Niagara, Ontario municipality of Welland and has been an engaged citizen on numerous issues affecting the residents of this region.
(Please remember that Niagara At Large only posts comments by individuals who share their first and last names with them.)
Niagara At Large 
We have no national energy policy. We have to import oil to the eastern provinces. The regulatory system in the tar sands is anarchy. The aquisition of property out west by China (aka Sinopec) is raising legitimate concerns. Robocalls appear to be the new norm.
Welcome to Harperland. You’re either with Harper, or you’re a communist sympathizer.
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It’s simple – we have higher Taxes on fuel than the Yanks.
Don’t you remember ~1975 when Davis applied a tax on gasoline, which brought in more government revenue as OPEC prices soared? When prices began to fall a few years later, he changed the tax to a Fixed amount per litre, rather than a Percentage of price, so that Ontario could ‘count’ on how much revenue it would ‘earn’.
Trudeau did a similar thing for Canada.
And of course, GST -now HST- is a tax on tax (the hidden taxes: excise [above], employees’ income taxes, corporation taxes, property taxes, etc), as well as on the true costs of production.
Furthermore, there’s the question of reducing fossil fuel consumption.
If we cut the taxes and the price, we’ll all drive more, eh? It’s not good for our ecology is it?
And now, with Ontario so much in debt, it’s impossible for McGuinty to reduce fuel taxes. He needs the money.
OTOH, maybe if he cut taxes, we’d all drive more, and burn more litres, so that he’d collect more tax overall.
OTOH, we’d pollute more and get sicker, which would drive up health costs, so that he’d need to raise taxes….
Hmmmm.
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One of the main reasons our gasoline costs more is all the taxes that is on the stuff,double taxation or should that be triple taxation federal tax plus hst. also we pay the world price for oil and all those exise taxes that is exactly what the Conservatives have always wanted, Trudeau wanted the made in Canada price for oil he also bought Dome petroleum which was then owned by the federal government, changed the name to Petro Canada the oil patch hated that idea and when Lyin Brian became Prime Minister he sold it for peanuts and so Alberta was pacified, and we get screwed.same thing happened here in Ontario when Mike Harris flogged Sunoco, which belonged to the Province of Ontario, if you want to know why? just look in the mirror, me, I use E85 Multiflex fuel which costs 50 cents a gallon cheaper than regular gas, you voted for ’em.so suck it up.folks.
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TAX TAX TAX
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I voted for Trudeau but not for Harper, Davis, Mulroney OR Harper. Too bad we all have to “suck it up”. I wouldn’t even care if the taxes were being well used but the amount of government waste is sickening, MP’s pay and pensions for one.
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It is actually quite simple to explain why Canadians pay more for fuel. It is the BOHICA syndrome in action. I am going to assume that you already know what SNAFU and FUBAR mean. The BOHICA syndrome is similar: Bend Over, Here It Comes Again.
Successive governments in Canada, whether Liberal, Conservative or New Democrat have all used the BOHICA syndrome to get more tax money out of our pockets.
But then again, we ask for it — we keep asking for more from the government!
And of course, the oil companies are quite happily demanding more money for their product: even though Canada’s natural resources should belong to ALL Canadians!
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For those who cherish low petroleum prices, it gets worse. If the Gateway pipeline goes through (and I hope it doesn’t, from an environmental perspective) prices of petrol will rise significantly. (Something to do with world market competition etc.)
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