THUNDER BAY -- With the gas price hitting well over the two-dollar mark, Northwestern Ontario is feeling the brunt impact as the public is left with no choice but to pay the fee.
Driving is a way of life for the north. For those living outside Thunder Bay, travelling to the grocery store or the hospital will cost an amount they can’t afford.
“We need cars,” said Judith Monteith-Farrell, NDP candidate for Thunder Bay- Atikokan. “We need cars because we need to go to the store. We need to go to the hospital. We need to get to our jobs. As I go door to door in Thunder Bay, people are outraged at skyrocketing gas prices. People remember Doug Ford’s broken promise to lower gas prices. They know Steven Del Duca ignores the North. People in Thunder Bay support the NDP’s commitment to take on big oil and stop gouging at the pumps.”
“Thunder Bay-Superior North is an enormous area,” said Lise Vaugeois. “Gas prices are creating tremendous strain for people across the region. For anyone travelling from the region to Thunder Bay for health care, the added costs are staggering, and a burden families shouldn’t have to worry about when accessing critical health care. For women and men working in the trades who travel hundreds of kilometres for work, gasoline prices are taking a big cut out of what is left over to feed their families."
Northern Ontarians are feeling the pinch at the pumps and asking why? Why isn’t our government doing something to fix these prices at a point where both gas companies can maintain a profit and where the people can travel without the worry of spending their entire paycheck at the pumps.
The NDP promises there is a way to bring down the price of gas by introducing new legislation to regulate the sale of gas at the retail and wholesale levels. Instead of the carbon tax, the NDP would bring back Cap and Trade. A program that was axed under the Ford government.
When asked why the previous government had attempted to regulate gas prices before, NDP candidate John Vanthof of Timiskaming-Cochrane riding said, “It’s not a lack of ability. It’s a lack of will.”
However, the NDP points out that Doug Ford made this promise back in 2018 when he promised to reduce gas prices by 10 cents per litre. A campaign promises the public never saw come into effect.
At the same time, Doug Ford warned that gas prices would skyrocket to $2 per litre if he didn’t win.
Now, they have climbed past two dollars per litre, and just days before the election was called, Ford finally acted with another promise to cut the gas tax.
Doug Ford’s Progressive Conservatives promise that a cut to the gas tax will solve this issue. By cutting the gas tax, he plans to temporarily reduce the price from 14.7 cents per litre to 9 cents per litre.
“The current system of competition is not working,” said Vanthof.
He explains that there is no correlation between taxes and gas prices.
The government doesn’t set the price of gas. Oil companies adjust their prices according to the stock market flows.
He also reminds us that the NDP isn’t opposed to companies making a profit on their good and services. They are opposed to the excessive profit that gas companies are making.
While most people are struggling to pay for the gas to get groceries, the gas companies are making billions of dollars in profit from the sale of gas.
