What do British Columbia and the remote areas of northern Canada have in common?
Gas prices, and expensive ones at that.
A heat map from GasBuddy.com shows that BC and the territories as the only two places in Canada that are in the red, which is over 130.4 cents per litre.
Believe it or not, gas in many areas of BC like the Stikine and Columbia-Shuswap Regions, along with the southwest corner of the province, are paying more than you’d pay in remote northern Canada.
The only other place in Canada that comes close to BC for gas prices is northern Ontario and small chunks of Quebec, but you can still fill up for under 130 cents per litre.
Even in Toronto, the average price is just 115.6 cents per litre.
Throughout the Prairies, gas is down towards 100 cents per litre and even under that mark in certain spots like Edmonton and Calgary.
Today, the BC Utilities Commission unveiled findings from an investigation into the province's expensive gas prices.
"The BCUC found that the wholesale gasoline market is not truly competitive, which results in unexplained higher gas prices for consumers, and potentially higher profits for oil and gas companies," explained Bruce Ralston, minister of trade.
"This means that British Columbians pay $490 million a year more than they otherwise would."
On Monday, April 22, the price for regular gas hit an astonishing 178.9 cents per litre and a few gas stations in the Lower Mainland.
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