Alright, what鈥檚 with this gas price situation?

Campbell Riverites are now paying amongst the highest prices on Vancouver Island for gasoline. We鈥檙e paying as much as Port Hardy 鈥� $1.39.9 鈥� which defeats the argument that it鈥檚 the price of shipping the fuel that accounts for the differences. Only Gold River鈥檚 gas is higher than Campbell River鈥檚.

It鈥檚 always been a mystery how the oil companies price their gas. It can be so arbitrary. One community 鈥� the Comox Valley, for example 鈥� can be significantly different, allegedly because of a competitor moving into the market. But you鈥檒l remember that a few years back, Campbell River used to have cheaper gas than the Valley.

It鈥檚 also a mystery how prices can leap up by as much as a dime but they only 鈥渄rop鈥� by a cent or two. It all points to the fact that there鈥檚 some oil company executive sitting in his high Alberta tower cackling away playing, 鈥渓et鈥檚 set the gas prices on Vancouver Island.鈥�

Okay, we鈥檙e being facetious, there isn鈥檛 really a malevolent oil executive having fun with gas pricing at our expense 鈥� we think. How else we鈥檙e supposed to explain the way princes bounce up and down at a seeming whim is beyond us though.

The only way we can wrestle control of this situation away from the oil companies is to not use their product. But we鈥檙e not going to do that are we? We鈥檙e not going to get out of our cars and walk more or take transit, are we? Not yet anyway because the convenience of an automobile is still worth what we鈥檙e paying to fuel them.

Maybe we need to fuel them with something else.