By Ed Drass and
Jeff Edwards
When’s the
last time you took a really long car voyage inside Canada? My
Road-Tripping Correspondent Jeff Edwards wrote recently that “we
seem to be in the middle of a mass migration west -- all over BC and
Alberta you see out-of-province plates. Like me, these people are
regularly driving long distances for work, for recreation and for
visits back east.
“I've made the
trip between the West Coast and Ontario three times in the last ten
months -- that’s 30,000 kilometers. While on these road trips, I
just want to get where I'm going, and in one piece; filling up with
food, a Timmie Ho's double-double and gas when needed. However, on
my last trip back to Ontario prices varied from 96.7 to 126.9 cents
per litre, and I'm definitely getting cost conscious now.”
The worst area,
he writes, is “without a doubt, Northern Ontario. You do not want to
get low on gas while driving the ‘hump’ over Lake Superior from
Sault Ste. Marie to the Lakehead. I paid $1.27 per litre in
Schreiber! A whole bunch of remote stations didn't even bother to
post their prices.”
Is there any
way to foil the highway-robber gas prices over Superior? Says Jeff,
“In-town independents can be cheaper -- their clientele is local
traffic, I presume. As an example, in Schreiber I only bought enough
to get to the next town -- appropriately named Marathon. Thankfully
a station was selling at $1.12 per litre. After that I didn't need
to fill up until the Soo.”
What about
truck stops? He writes, “Their fuel prices seemed neither really
high nor really low -- you can count on them being close to the
average.”
Any hard-earned
tips on saving money? Says our correspondent, “It seems like a good
bet to fill up in mid-sized cities, like Kamloops, Medicine Hat,
Swift Current, Thunder Bay. I worked in Cache Creek, BC -- a
smallish junction town -- for a month or so and noticed that all
three gas stations maintained the same price, and it almost never
varied. Drive 45 minutes east to the 'Loops (Kamloops) where prices
fluctuated but were definitely lower, all the time.
“In Manitoba
and Saskatchewan there wasn't much variation -- maybe a reflection
of the stolid, honest Prairie ethos. Oh, another thing -- don't
drive on weekends,” he adds. “Prices are way higher and the traffic
can be nuts!”
When
approaching oil-rich Alberta, can you save money once you cross the
provincial border? Not as much as you'd think, says Jeff. “Going
east from Golden, BC to Lake Louise in Alberta, prices were about
four cents lower, then even lower past Canmore. So I waited to fill
up -- too long in fact. I saved a bundle at a station about 50
kilometers west of Calgary -- trouble was I had to walk the last two
klicks. At 3 a.m.”
The gas gurus
at MJ Ervin Associates in Calgary report that Alberta has been
experiencing a shortage of refined fuel this summer, and prices have
been higher than usual. Check out their ‘Weekly Pump Price Survey’
at mjervin.com. Cathy Hay told
me last week that wholesale gas prices were about 80 cents a litre
in Alberta before tax, whereas in Toronto it was closer to 65 cents.
Why? You can’t get an oil tanker to the Prairies from overseas to
augment local supply.
Taxes are the
main reason prices fluctuate between provinces, she says. Some
jurisdictions lay on provincial sales taxes above the fixed federal
and provincial fees, and then there’s municipal surcharges in places
like Vancouver.
Aside from
taxes, she confirms the strong relationship between the size of a
gasoline market and the end price at the pump. Stations in bigger
cities sell more, and can survive on smaller margins. More
cross-country tales coming up.
edrass@nationalpost.com