Lately prices at the pump have been a little infuriating and I shudder every time I need to gas up my vehicle.
It’s not because gas prices right now are around $1.30 per litre, which is about 16 cents per litre higher across the province than at this time last year, or because prices in Vancouver are about 25 cents per litre higher than the national average (check out gasbuddy.com).
No, it’s because I’ve enjoyed real cheap prices living in the Middle East – about 50 cents per litre in Oman and (gasp) 12 cents per litre in Egypt. It’s a shock to my system what we pay here.
Many countries subsidize gas consumption especially those in the Middle East and in North Africa. These governments believe that keeping gas prices artificially low ensures that its people, particularly the poor, enjoy cheap consumption of their own country’s resources, and gives them the ability to buy other goods, leading to overall economic growth.
However, studies have shown that fossil fuel subsidies do more harm than good as they lead to economic inefficiency and have an adverse impact on the environment. But anytime a government has tried to lift some subsidy, it usually doesn’t go over well with its citizens.
What doesn’t go over well with me is that prices in Squamish are the same as they are in Vancouver. It used to be cheaper here since Vancouver implemented a municipal fuel tax. If all things are equal we should be seven to nine cents cheaper than Vancouver at any given time… but I digress.
Well, whatever the price may be we must do our share to reduce fuel consumption by using renewable energy sources, and lower our carbon emissions for a healthier and greener community. Petroleum will not be around forever and we must figure out a method to replace expensive fuel and avoid being affected by an inevitable fuel shortage in the future.
What we have here that isn’t in the Middle East are charging stations for electric cars – as there are virtually no electric or hybrid vehicles over there. It’s a start in the right direction, although now we need electric cars to be more affordable. We should develop the technology so it doesn’t take about twice as much energy to make an electric vehicle as it does a gas-powered one on a per-kilometre basis, and not arrive on the street with a higher carbon footprint even before you plug them in.
But until that day comes, I will continue to pay the higher fuel prices namely because it is so highly taxed (in 2015 Canadians paid an average of 38.5 cents of tax on every litre of gas. That’s almost $20 on a typical 50-litre fill, according to petro-canada.ca). I’m hoping for a greener future and I really miss paying only 12 cents a litre.
- Originally a Squamish resident, Marcus Monopoli left for the Middle East in 2008 for radio gigs in Egypt and Oman. He moved back last summer.
