With Gas Prices Spiking, Let’s Get Back To What Many Did During The COVID Pandemic – Work From Home

A Brief Commentary by Niagara At Large reporter/publisher Doug Draper

Posted March 10^th, 2026 on Niagara At Large

Barely more than a week after Trump and his Israeli pal Benjamin Netanyahu starting bombing Iran, the price of a litre of gas at the gas bar down the street from my Niagara, Ontario home jumped from 1:24.9 per liter to close to 1:60 and counting.

By the end of this week of March 9^th, more than a few economists are predicting that the price of a litre of regular gas across Ontario and other parts of Canada could soar as high as two dollars.

That much of a price hike could be the straw that broke the camel’s back for many people already struggling to pay their energy bills and the costs of food and other essentials they need to survive from week to week with a roof over their heads.

With that in mind, perhaps one significant thing that our provincial and federal governments could do to ease the pain and lessen the demand for gasoline for however much time the Trump/Netanyahu war lasts is to go back to what so many workers did during the COVID-19 crisis – work from home.

From many accounts, remote working as it was often called, not only worked for the employees and employers, it kept a significant number of cars off the road and, for those who still care about addressing climate change, it meant less climate-ravaging carbon spewing into the atmosphere.

And in the case of the gas price we are now facing in the wake of this War in Iran, keeping that car in the driveway might reduce the demand on gasoline down enough to keep the price of it down for those who deliver our food and other products too.

How about that Premier Ford and Prime Minister Carney?

I am old enough to remember my parents and grandparents talking about  far greater sacrifices and lifestyle changes they had to make during the Great Depression of the 1930s and the Second World War that followed.

Surely going back to working from home during a time of a rising gasoline crisis is not too much to ask for now.

• Doug Draper, Niagara At Large

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