I asked gas station owners, petroleum industry associations, economists, analysts, and as many consumers as I could find but no one could provide with a satisfactory answer about why gas prices in my market — the Toronto area — or in Montreal, Halifax, Winnipeg, and other major Canadian cities are bouncing around with such big swings. Gas in Toronto was 70.9 cents a litre Monday at lunch. Tuesday at lunch it was at 80 cents. In Winnipeg, one consumer said she bought gas Monday for 64 cents a litre and on Tuesday it had popped to 78 cents a litre.
Meanwhile, the in the U.S., gas prices are hitting record-highs — the average tracked by the American Automobile Association came in at over $1.73 a gallon yesterday — and some commentators are warning it could go to $3 (U.S.) a gallon.
All of this prompted a piece I did last night for CTV's national newscast. You'll have click on the “Related Video” link on the right of the story at that site to watch the piece.
David, this is nothing new other than the fluctuatoins in March have been higher than recent months. But these fluctuations have been going on for as long as this site has been charting stuff. I would think it has nothing to do with supply and demand but rather the oil/gas companies just playing around with the price to make the largest buck they can. We already know that gas prices shoot way up before long weekends and they've probably figured out when to bounce things around all year round as well.
The real question is why are we paying more than the US for oil/gas??
See this chart and expand it out to more months or years and you'll see how long this has been going on.