Glenn,
I doubt if a boycott would have much of an effect, especially if it did not
include a reduction on driving. The whole issue of oil prices is very
complex; I understand that there is not one price (the one we see listed in
the newspapers) but that, with vertical integration, some oil companies pay
a lot less for a barrel of crude than others. Add to that the artificial
pricing (I was in the US last week and noticed that "premium" is about 10 US
cents per gallon more expensive than "regular." In Canada, the price
differential is 10 C cents per litre, or ~25 US cents per gallon. Go
figure!
It would be interesting to track the retail price of gasoline on both sides
of the border. I don't know how much profit the oil companies make but I
understand it is a lot less per litre than the government takes in. If the
government only used the money to fix up the highways, I wouldn't mind so
much but, no, the money goes to general revenue (a.k.a. "black hole") and we
all know what Jane Stewart knows what to do with it!
I think the fairest approach is to go to a two-tiered system: each car owner
gets coupons for a limited amount of gasoline that can be bought at, say, 40
cents/litre. Anything over that would have to be bought at going prices.
As for pollution control, why not concentrate on the regions that have high
automobile densities, where the pollution is most severe? One can make a
strong case for more relaxed rules in wide open spaces (prairies, N. Ontario
and N. Quebec) where "the solution to pollution is dilution."
Chuck Vandergraaf
----------
From: wms[SMTP:wms@vaxxine.com]
Sent: Thursday February 01, 1996 2:11 AM
To: M.E. & E.A. Driver; Morgan Net
Subject: Re: Gasoline or petrol
In my humble opinion any bouycot would need to be a month long and
we pick a
company brand to bouycot for the month .
Unfortunatly some independants use the big four for fuel supply .
Also some
of the dealers would suffer the most but would soon fight for
supplies .
In Ontario for example , we have about four companys left . I think
that
Petrocan has gouged the driver the most and would be a good place to
start .
The following month Esso could be hit for a month and the following
month
Sunoco etc. Right now the fuel suppliers don't care how much a
barrel of
crude costs because they just pass it on with the slightest
excuse.They got
the bad publicity last year so will now make up for lost bucks . If
we could
get them into a crunch they would have to try a little harder to be
competative or we could just have three suppliers to deal with . The
consumer still has the big stick and they should know it . With the
net and
a few other methods it would not be hard to get out to people . We
all know
that fuel is a necessity so we must buy from some source ,the lowest
price
usually
As far as pollution is concerned , I think the BS that has
forced
many people in this Province to buy a new car when they were not
ready to do
so should have taken care of a lot of that.Five years from now we
may be
back to square one though , not the fault of the consumer .
I just hope the Government (if you can call it that ) does
not
mind if I put my prices up 5% to offset the extra expense of
shipping .
don't get me going on the shipping by truck bit ) I'm not sure that
that
will cover both shippings now .( in and out)
Anyway I had the Morgan old #5112 out for a toot an
Monday
feels and sounds good .Have a great summer , the Mogs are not bad on
fuel .
Cheers Glenn Nigh
----- Original Message -----
From: M.E. & E.A. Driver <edriver@sk.sympatico.ca>
To: Morgan Net <Morgans@autox.team.net>
Sent: Wednesday, March 08, 2000 3:06 PM
Subject: Gasoline or petrol
>
> The price per imperial gallon in Canadian dollars for premium
gasoline:
> in Canada it is $3.45, in the United Kingdom $ 9.30 and in the
USA
$2.60.
> The conversion from a USA gallon to an imperial gallon is USA x's
1.2
>
>
|