Sam Odrowski
While many parts of the province saw a five-cent reduction in gas prices in mid-September, the cost across the district has remained the same.
“This a huge source of frustration for me,” Energy minister and local MPP Greg Rickford told the Times on Friday afternoon.
“It has to do with a very complicated supply chain, particularly when it comes to Northwestern Ontario,” he noted.
The province has been receiving five cents less per litre in gas tax revenue but it has not yet translated to a five-cent drop for district motorists.
Rickford said somebody else in the supply chain is making that five cents per litre and his government intends to take steps to change that.
The options the government is looking at right now involve creating awareness for people who are buying gas at the pumps to see the provincial government did make a reduction.
“Then at least folks know we’ve done it and it will put pressure on the supply chain to account for that reduction,” Rickford reasoned.
He added the province isn’t interested in regulating gas prices because provinces where this is done find themselves paying much more per litre of gas on average.
Still, the province will look at ways to ensure price reductions on gas reach both Northwestern and southern Ontario.
But while the gas price reduction isn’t being reflected at the pumps here yet, Rickford said it is being shown in other ways.
“I was talking to David Kaemingh in Fort Frances and you’ll note on his fuel bills, as a supplier, he’s actually shown people as a line item that they’re paying less [for] gas because of the carbon tax being gone,” he noted.
