With the price of oil well below $100 a barrel once again the greedy multinational oil barons have decided that their multi million-dollar income and their huge performance bonuses are not enough to live on. In the past two months they have raised the price of a litre of fuel from $1.169 to $1.339 without any valid reason for such action. I have not seen any report in the newspapers saying their cost of labour or the their cost of materials going up dramatically.
The price of fuel has since has dropped to $1.319 per litre.
The good people of Prince George and the North have been paying a higher rate for fuel than the rest of the province for fuel with the exception of Vancouver which has a municipal tax added on.
High fuel prices stymie growth and investment in our economy. If the return isn't there, investors won't build businesses in our communities. This costs jobs and prevents communities from growing and diversifying their economies.
I am of the opinion that the multinational oil companies have been pillaging our pocket books for too long. These companies have established a pattern of higher and discriminatory pricing for fuel in the North. They sometimes provide us with half-baked reasoning and excuses to give credence for fuel increases. The problem with this is they normally turn out to be nothing more than a tall tail.
Quite a while ago I dropped into MP Harris's office. I had a letter I drafted. The jist of the letter was that we in the central interior have been paying more for fuel than elsewhere without any recourse. My paper went on to say that I felt the law on discrimination should be amended to include financial discrimination.
During the upcoming provincial election this would be a good issue to bring to our next representatives.
With the Conservative Party's stance on Enbridge and the Nexon sale I'm going to include a copy of this letter to Mr. Cullen, as I feel there may be a conflict of interest just sending it to our own representative.
If you don't want to write a letter but want to express your displeasure cut this out of the paper sign your name and address to it, put in an envelope mail it to your federal representative.
Stan New
Prince George
