We are getting screwed, plain and simple

It's not just you, it's the economy and most of all and it seems the price of gas is making things go slow. The economic recovery which, we're all hoping, is just around the corner, seems to be sputtering in place as gas prices climb to historic levels.

So I've taken a look at the issue.

A local small business owner who's behind the wheel much of the time, Taxi Driver Nick Hintze North Bay agrees with the notion that at some level, both the customers and the business operators are caught up in the cost of fuel.

"If prices continues to rise, in turn I'll have to raise my prices, along with everybody else that relies on gas to run their business," Hintze says regrettably.

Hintze recalls that when he began driving a cab six years ago, gas prices floated at around .87 cents a litre. As of this week, the price of fuel has now soared to 1.44 cents.

"This is definitely the worst I have ever seen gas prices," he claims.
"It's getting to the point now where I may have to get out of the cab business, perhaps for good."

Keith Pollock runs his own Lawn Care business here in the city and is also feeling a financial squeeze every time he goes to fill up at the pumps.

"It just gets so frustrating with the cost of fuel, heating and hydro and now this. Where do they expect people to pull the money out of," He asks.

He says that once upon a time, cutting lawns was a relatively easy thing to do. Over the last few years, the rising cost of fuel has made his business that much harder to operate.

"80 percent of my customers are the elderly who are on pensions that don't adjust well to the rising cost of everything. I set my prices at the start of the season. This year, I had to go up in price because of the gas prices."

Like Hintze, Pollock fears that if prices are to continue to rise, he would have little choice but to downsize his business or lose it altogether.

"There has to be a breaking point. I can't keep raising costs because people just can't afford it,” he says.

This week, Parry Sound-Muskoka Canada's Industry Minister Tony Clement called on refiners, distributors and retailers to testify before a parliamentary committee to explain pricing methods to Canadians.

The Honourable member of Parliament said that the government "was hearing the questions and concerns Canadians have about fluctuating fuel prices" and stated that "Canadians want and deserve answers."

Pollock feels that he has an answer.

"We are getting screwed, plain and simple. Everyone knows it," he says, rather bluntly.

Ken Paulin, who also lives in North Bay, would like the Minister to explain why Canadians end up paying so much for a seemingly abundant natural resource.

"Does it not belong to all Canadians? Why do we let international companies take our oil and then sell it back to us at global prices," he asks.

Paulin feels that our nation's fuel should be classified as a strategic asset and nationalized.

"It should be a crown corporation. We should meet our own needs first then sell the rest to the world Market. Then Canadians can benefit by having affordable gas and the government has a huge source of revenue. That is what most oil exporting countries do," he states.

Bill Doucette, a concerned local, has been following the issue and says that the news about government talks with the oil industry is nothing but "wish wash".

He is convinced that Ottawa can do very little to help the financial burden that is being put on Canadians, especially those living in Northern Ontario.

Typically, fuel prices in the region tend to be higher than in Southern Ontario due to import costs.

Local resident Craig Hall is also convinced that the government is just blowing smoke.

"Of course they won't step in to do anything to change the gas price to reflect what it should be at because the higher the price, the more money the government makes in taxes,” he says.

In Hall's opinion, the price increase is nothing more than a money grab.

"Because the oil companies and the government know that no matter what, people will still have to buy fuel whether it is to heat your home or put in your vehicle," he says.

Regardless of Tony Clement's statement of assurance, there still seems to be many questions being asked with no one giving a straight answer.

The rumour mill is full of opinions and causes as to why this is all happening now and the justifications for them.

We've been told that it's tied to the price of oil. We've heard that it's due to speculators, foreign conflicts, even technical breakdowns at refineries.

Wherever you want to place the blame, the answer will change, seemingly overnight. The only real answer will come when people change their consumption habits as greener technologies become more available. It does sounds simplistic but then again anyone can generate thousands of pages of explanations to all sorts of behaviours. Remember Enron?

It's worth asking ourselves if we think our government will have automobile technologies that will reduce or eliminate our need to consume so much of our income in these products. It does seem as though a quick sweeping of green technologies under the rug may be currently at work. Which is too bad, because it's something that Canadians need, now more than ever.

Democratic or not, people want an economical and environmental path to unfold from government leadership but it would appear that a rock or two has been put down in front of them. Greener technology, cheaper oil base energy and consumer demand doesn't seem to shift pricing. We are currently in a cycle of escalating costs, diminishing a means to accumulate wealth, or a better society.

"I just don't want to have to carry people around on a rickshaw," half-jokingly adds Hintze.