North Bay and area residents might see some uniformity at the pumps if Timmins-James Bay MPP Gilles Bisson has his way. The New Democrat has introduced a Private Member`s Bill where the Ontario Energy Board would regulate gas prices weekly across Ontario. Bisson says consumers get hit with huge price gas differentials even within the same region and there`s no reason for this. He says an example of this is someone gassing up in Barrie for $1.15 a litre can easily run into prices of $1.30 a litre once he hits Trout Creek. Bisson says these two areas are within the same market region. He says another example of huge price differential involves Hagersville and Thunder Bay where the difference in price is as much as 40 cents a litre. He says there`s no way there`s a 40 cent-a-litre difference in transportation costs between both communities.
Bisson says if there`s a way to sell alcohol for the same price across Ontario, than there`s a way to apply the same thinking on gas. Bisson says right now prices fluctuate even though the price of a barrel of oil is fairly constant. He says it`s frustrating when you`re driving home from work and see gas going at $1.15 a litre but decide you`ll gas up the next day because you`re too tired only to find gas jumped 10 to 15 cents a litre. Bisson wants to know what happened over night for that kind of a jump because it “sure wasn`t the price of a barrel of oil that went up”. Bisson introduced his gas regulation proposal in a Private Member`s Bill on Monday.
