From my recent visit to the Lower Mainland, I can assure you that $1.70 per a litre or higher for gasoline isn't an exaggeration, matching the growing anger in a population where over half do not have easy access to public transit and must commute for work. Indeed, fuel prices in the GVRD are so outrageous, it is cheaper to buy American, even after the exchange rate. Add to this Alberta Premier Jason Kenney's plan to restrict the supply, and cars may well be parked this summer.
What progressives seem unable to grasp, from Prohibition to marijuana legalization, is that nothing exists in a vacuum: moonshiners, rollers of Status tobacco, and small time weed dealers all benefit from the overpricing earnest people believe will truly save the world from sin.
Now that same mindset has been brought to bear on fuel, spurred by apocalyptic visions of climate change that are preached from every progressive pulpit. We British Columbians have been paying a Carbon Tax since 2008, longer than anyone else in North America, and yet the wildfires that have decimated our interior continued to rage with a vengeance. How much more sacrifice do the climate gods demand? What kind of indulgence will expiate my carbon footprint?
Vancouver was quite possibly the worst jurisdiction to experiment with these penalizing levies: non-GVRD members have gas that's up to 20 cents less a litre, and much of the Lower Mainland already goes to the States for cheap dairy - might as well bring an empty jerry can.
But if nothing else, this latest policy disaster demonstrates once again why one ought to have faith in anything but government and its members.
The people in charge refuse to live by the consequences of their ideology, as our leaders don't pay for their commutes and supporters of this tax are subsidized to ride on public transit, including the SkyTrain that costs millions more to construct per mile than light rail, an option Translink lobbies against in neighbouring cities.
By the way, did the carbon tax get paid for the concrete poured to make the skyline ruining track of Vancouver's extravagant above ground subway? What about the clearly oil-based seats or the plastic posters supporting silly causes in every station? I would like to see those receipts.
Meanwhile, families are being hurt by these prices, as the cost of fuel drains a great deal from pocket books that could have been spent anywhere else. And how does one square the circle that tolls on the Port Mann bridge were unjust, but a universal tariff, whether you use the only properly built parkway in B.C. or not, isn't highway robbery? I vaguely recall rules about "the Queen's road" and no tolls being allowed; maybe some activist lawyer could be useful for once.
Of course, there is reason to be grateful.
Premier John Horgan's kowtowing to radical environmentalist doctrine has created a perfect foil for conservative provincial premiers and the federal Tories just before an election: see what happens to gas prices when you vote Left? And as the crisis will only continue to grow, a change in government is imminent for British Columbia, finally colouring Canada blue from English Bay to Charlottetown Harbour. Thanks, progressives!
Here it is right and just to offer some free advice to left-leaning people across the country - take your parties back, please.
These radical imps are fueled by a combination of religious zealotry akin only to jihadism and international financial resources laundered through non-profit lobbies that make SNC-Lavalin's acts seem perfectly ethical.
Cast these jacobins into the dark abyss all while asserting a platform for affordability and poverty reduction through higher wages.
Canada has bountiful energy that is ethically produced. It is beyond comprehension how our country sets gas price records or takes political risks that are threatening not just to projects but confederation also. So far we've avoided the global wave of discontent.
But are we immune?
