Why is your gas price is so friggen' high?
You can thank the clowns that run things...
I don’t need to tell a single soul with a car on the road today, how little your dollar stretches towards filling up your tank. I put $40 dollars in my car yesterday and it barely went to half a tank. My friend has a very old fuel efficient Nissan with a small tank and it cost $90 dollars to fill it up. Never mind someone with a Dodge Durango, you’re looking at $200 to fill up. I see 2.29 a litre in my city and it feels like extortion. We’re dealing with gas prices like these at a time when governments have thrown people out of work because of mandates, shut down businesses and annihilated the economy. Heck, if you speak up about this, will they freeze your bank account? The irony is that many put on unpaid leave took up jobs with Uber, Uber Eats and Door Dash and now that’s been made nearly impossible for people who work for those companies because of this insane fuel cost.
In 2018, Trudeau was doing press conferences about how he was going protect Alberta’s oil industry. By spending 4.5 billion nationalizing the Kinder Morgan pipeline, we were supposed to increase capacity from 300,000 barrels a day to 890,000. This is not expected to happen though till late 2023 because there was a court delay when adequate consultation with affected indigenous communities didn’t take place. Well, fair enough, but you think those negotiations would transpire before spending 4.5 billion, but I guess that doesn’t matter when you spend our hard earned tax dollars. BC does get some oil via the Cherry Point refinery in Blaine, Washington. The plant currently processes 225, 000 barrels of crude oil per day, 90 % of that becoming gas, diesel or jet fuel but obviously, we’re one of many places it feeds. In Western Canada, we’ve only had one pipeline from Edmonton to Burnaby, since 1953. I mean in all these years we’ve only had the one? As consumption increases, what does the government do with our tax money? Did it not occur to anyone earlier to build another line ? Does it take a genius to figure out this is a good idea? However, now it seems Trudeau is backtracking on this idea big time. At a United Nations Climate Change Summit in Glasgow, Scotland in 2021, the Canadian Prime Minister was waxing on about getting emissions down to net zero by 2050. Net zero anything is unrealistic, but this is how far he is willing to go to appease the environmental lobby and his cronies. Reducing our oil and gas industry to nothing will affect our trade with US and other countries resulting in catastrophic consequences for Canadian GDP. To that end, one of the first things President Joe Biden did when elected was kill the Keystone XL pipeline. It was meant to carry oil from Alberta to Nebraska. So why kill it? I guess he was trying to negate Trump’s wish to bring it back to life. Biden also panders to the environmental lobby. Obviously, we need to consider the environment, but what’s the alternative? Oh, that’s right they haven’t thought of that.
US gets oil from Russia, about 10% and in 2021, Canada imported $289 million of energy products from Russia also. Joe Biden talks about using oil reserves to get through this tough time meanwhile, Biden’s own son Hunter, sits on the board of directors of a Ukrainian oil company, Burisma, getting paid $50,000 a month. So what is this war about? NATO’s nefarious dealings in Ukraine I’d say, but yet the Biden administration has banned Russian oil imports to the US, for a war that the west started in the first place. You’re not hurting Putin, you’re hurting Americans because gas is now $4.25 a gallon. Why doesn’t Hunter starts giving out cheques to citizens? He can afford it.
People feel very sanctimonious if they think they’re helping the environment and saving the world. I myself, maybe in vain, also really care about pollution, oceans, recycling, consuming less, causing less waste, saving water, energy, all things a rational human being cares about within reason. But I also understand, we drive in cars, fly in planes (well, some are allowed to these days), take hot showers, use our phones, heat our homes and admit it, we’re not going to give that up. Why would we? For years and years we’ve been told about climate change and greenhouse gas emissions but has anyone come up with a viable alternative? No, because there isn’t one. It’s too complex and vast and I’m not sure we’re going to solve this in our lifetime. They talk about solar panels, yeah and what do you do when the sun goes down at night? Burn coal, we can’t do that, that’s bad. Okay, then what? Burn trees? Well, don’t do that either. What do you propose then?
How about wind? Wind turbines, how feasible is that? Do windmills and turbines save energy? Some farming communities complain that farm animals experience negative health effects and they kill migrating birds. Doesn’t seem like a solution to me.
The price of oil and gas is so high, we sometimes think of oil companies as some sort of money grubbing, morally bankrupt industry, but I think, if our government is going to charge a carbon tax, then put that money toward increasing oil production and cultivating our own fuel industries for the benefit of Canadians. Why do tar sands exists if we feel guilty about using them? We need oil companies and people who work on oil rigs. Think of how it would “fuel” our own oil and gas industry, increase supply so we could meet demand at reasonable prices. This would lead to more disposable income and more purchasing power for regular people, who would like to go to a restaurant or a concert, it’s positive for small business and the economy overall—-but no, they don’t seem to want that. They showed you that with Covid policy, they were willing to decimate the economy happily under the guise of “health”.
The thing is, no matter what method you’re using to transport oil, there’s a risk to the environment somehow. If you put it on a tanker, it can spill into the ocean, remember Exxon Valdez? If you transport by train, well that can start an inferno, remember Lac Magantic? So how about putting it in something designated to carry oil? Oh, like a pipeline for instance. Well, those are bad, so no thanks. I’m all for protesting, believe me, but even protestors who are against pipelines, well how did you get to the protest? Probably by car. It’s ludicrous to think we can function oil and gas free at this point, so let’s try to be as sympathetic to the environment as we can and get on with it.
Recently, our premier in BC encouraged us to carpool or to think before we drive, well then let me think, do I need to drive my kids to school? Yes. Do I need to drive to pick up groceries? Yes. Do I need to drive to visit my Mother? Yes. So what now? How about you take our Climate Action Gas Tax and put it towards gas! Rev up the industry, build a 3rd pipeline you can actually use this time, why not? The government seems to be able to print money when they want, they all of a sudden had loads of CERB money to give, so hey, print it and put it back in our pocket why don’t you?
At the end of the day, I encourage everyone to speak up. Don’t shrug your shoulders and say, “you can’t fight city hall.” Why can’t you? We have been badgered incessantly for the past two years, abused I would say. Treated like garbage, but now, it’s time to say, “no more”. Sign petitions, write letters, email like crazy, call every newsroom, contact your government officials, get in their face. They need to do something about this now. If you stay quiet, they will keep on squashing you, so don’t make it easy. This economic hardship is their fault, their doing, their complete, deliberate ineptness—so bloody well say something. It’s your life, it’s your livelihood.
ANITA KRISHNA is a journalist based in Canada. She worked for Global News in Vancouver for more than 20 years and has worked for three major Canadian networks. She now hosts her own channel on Rumble, called AKStraightSpeaks.
Note: I am no expert on this subject, these are just my thoughts and a little research. I did a podcast with a financial analyst on the price of gas and you’ll find that on my Rumble channel “AKStraightSpeaks”
https://rumble.com/v154yh9-why-is-your-gas-price-so-friggen-high.html
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