Gas prices have risen again, reaching $ 2.279 per liter on Saturday, but not yet completed.

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According to analysts, Metro Vancouver’s gas prices could reach $ 2.50 per liter this summer, predicting a price of $ 2 per liter this year, going back to October, Saturday’s regular 1 liter. It hit a high of $ 2.279 at.

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“Will it cost another 14 cents per liter?” Asked Dan McTig, a former Liberal Party member and now President of the Liberal Party of Canada’s affordable energy, about fuel prices in Metro Vancouver. He said the summer driving season, which usually pushes fuel prices up, has not yet begun in Canada and the United States.

McTig notes that a temporary suspension of carbon taxes, or Otawa’s proposal to offer a refund of energy, could have provided the federal government with a tax increase from GST on fuel purchases. bottom.

Rising gas prices will have a disproportionate impact on low-income Canadians, McTigue said.

Werner Antweiler, an associate professor at the Sauder School of Business at the UBC, agreed to call fuel prices “elastic.” Most people fill up their tanks for $ 100 or $ 150.

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“They complain, but they’re still driving,” he said.

In addition, many other people who may be suffering from fuel prices still need to get to work in some way, and transit is not just an option for many, Antweiler said.

People don’t skip driving because of fuel prices because they need to get to work, “says McTeague. “What they are skipping is food.”

He suggested that the state government should temporarily eliminate the automobile fuel tax, which is added for every liter of fuel sold in the state.

British Columbia’s liberal leader Kevin Falcon said the same: “Temporarily suspending all costs that the state government imposes on fuel prices for at least three months to give people a significant break. “.

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“I don’t think the government (of the NDP) fully understands how a $ 200- $ 300 increase in fuel costs per week will affect families,” he said.

On Friday, Prime Minister John Horgan called the tax cut a “short-sighted plan” that only provided “the most” relief.

The Minister of Finance said he was asked to submit a “basket of initiatives” to address rising fuel costs, saying they were “not a short-term issue.”

Until then, he advised residents to reduce their travel expenses.

“We need to do what we can to reduce the amount of money we all spend, and also by ensuring that we work together. When we go to the grocery store, we need to do that. If you know you have a neighbor who needs something, take it and ask if you can reduce the number of trips we take, “Hogan said.

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Falcon criticized the Prime Minister’s comments, saying it wouldn’t help contractors who need to transport “13-foot PVC plumbing.”

“We are aware that we are migrating from fossil fuels,” he said. “In the meantime, the fact that the overwhelming majority of people have to rely on petrol cars to meet their family and business needs cannot be ignored.”

Use files from Joe Ruttle.

ngriffiths@postmedia.com

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