All parties including the Conservative Party should get real—and honest—about their feigned outrage over gasoline prices.
I’ve rarely heard so much political nonsense in one day. Here’s the synopsis:
Liberals get hammered by opposition over gasoline prices, promise action
ALEXANDER PANETTAOTTAWA (CP) – The Liberal government promised to create a national body to monitor gasoline prices as opponents pummelled it over sky-high rates at the pumps.
The pledge came Monday as all three opposition parties, smelling political blood, ganged up on the government for failing to stop spiralling prices.
“(We’ll) ensure that we do put in place a mechanism for monitoring gas and home heating fuel prices in the months ahead,” said Industry Minister David Emerson.
It remained unclear how long it would take to create such a body or even whether it could make a dent in fuel costs.
Cabinet hasn’t yet studied the plan, government officials said. The list of mechanisms being considered ranges from a new national agency to a website that would be run from an existing department.
An early draft proposal is being worked on by acting Natural Resources Minister John McCallum, who just took over his new portfolio.
[…] One possibility is toughening the Competition Act to single out gasoline companies in the event collusion and price-gouging are ever proven, said a government source.
Oh my goodness it reminds me on the one hand of the collusion between several of the brain challenged members of all the parties early after the last election, when they all agreed it would be wise for the nation’s government to monitor and ultimately prohibit the consumption of “trans fatty acids” in our chips and fried chicken.
On the other hand it reminds me of Canada the Liberal-left Nanny State, or Cuba, or the old Soviet Union—with a smattering of communist China mixed in.
As I’ve pointed out before, the big, huge, fat, useless government of Canada has conducted several (I said three) studies to determine whether there’s any “collusion” or price fixing at the pumps and each time came back with a solid “no”.
The Competition Bureau has conducted five such investigations into allegations of collusion in the gasoline industry since 1990. It has concluded each time that there is no evidence of collusion.
A gasoline industry official cited those studies – and some anecdotal evidence – as proof that gas prices are fair.
Not content with “no” and other such annoying facts, the leftists in all parties demand they look again. Then again. Then again.
Everyone should read Michael Campbell’s commentary at his MoneyTalks web site today:
Where does one start with the avalanche of ignorance that has accompanied the rise in gas prices, which are the second-lowest in the industrialized world? Politicians, prominent members of the media and the majority of Canadians are offering up solutions that at best can be described as verification for Alexander Pope’s famous admonition “a little learning is a dangerous thing.”
You know that asking for a rational debate on energy is wishful thinking when, despite the fact that gas prices fell faster than crude oil in the two weeks previous to the onset of Hurricane Rita, we still have people demanding to know why gas prices don’t fall when oil does. Forget about the fact that each time the Competition Bureau has looked into gasoline prices they found there was no conspiracy on the part of refiners. Gas prices must be rising because of a conspiracy of big oil. Noted economist Michael Moore told me so.
An online poll in the Globe and Mail this week reflected the views of many letters to the editor and calls to open-line talk shows when it found about 60 per cent of respondents demanding that governments should control the price of gasoline. It’s amazing to see once again that in the face of even the slightest bit of inconvenience the first thought for the majority of Canadians is that the government should fix it.
[…] Here’s a radical idea that no leader dares to suggest. If you don’t like high gas prices then drive less, car pool, use public transit or get a more gas-efficient car. Oops, that sounds a little too much like taking personal initiative and that’s certainly contrary to “Canadian values”. Instead, let’s declare war on the environment by demanding the government subsidize our energy consumption. Given a choice between adopting more environmentally friendly practices by consuming less or having the government pay for our consumption, for the majority of Canadians it’s to heck with the environment.
In the meantime, 30 per cent of U.S. refining capacity has been shutdown because of Hurricane Rita, but that couldn’t have an impact on gas prices, could it?
Aside from Michael Campbell’s radical ideas, the only thing that makes sense from my perspective is for the government to lower their excessively high taxes on gasoline. That’s far and away the biggest rip-off per litre, yet the government won’t speak of lowering taxes. T’would set a non-liberal precedent!
Back to the original article:
On Monday, motorists wrote in to vancouvergasprices.com claiming rates ranging from $1.02 to $1.20 per litre in Vancouver.
A similar website in Toronto claimed a price range of $0.989 to $1.10 in that city.
That sounds lower than before Katrina and Rita, and it’s lower, after taking inflation into account, than it was in 1980. And it’s way too low judging by how, and what, people drive today.
To paraphrase (and add a little to) the good journalist John Stossel and his patented signoff line, give me a large personal break, here, already.
PTBC was founded by Mr. Johannesen in 2000.
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