Prices at pump headed higher for long weekend

Rising demand at start of summer driving season allows gas retailers to boost prices for bigger profits

CALGARY — Motorists in many parts of Canada are expected to see rising gasoline prices as they fire up their vehicles for road adventures on the Victoria Day long weekend.

But price direction will vary across the nation, said fuel market analyst Dan McTeague of GasBuddy.com, with prices rising in Ontario, the Maritimes, Manitoba and Saskatchewan but actually expected to fall from recent peaks in Alberta and Quebec.

He says prices for regular gasoline in Toronto, Hamilton, Ottawa and most of the rest of Ontario were expected to rise by one cent per litre on Friday and another cent today, reaching an average of 140.9 cents per litre, the highest since June 29, 2014.

“We said this would be the highest price (in four years) . . . but honest to God, I never thought it would be this high,” said McTeague.

As of Thursday afternoon, GasBuddy.com showed the average Canadian gasoline price as 134.4 cents per litre, up 2.6 cents from a week ago and 26 cents from the average of 109.4 cents per litre last year.

The highest average price it has recorded in Canada was 142.4 cents in August 2008, it says.

Higher fuel prices at this time of year are to be expected because increased demand allows retailers to build in bigger profit margins, said Kent Group vicepresident Jason Parent.

“We’re into the beginning of the summer driving season and demand’s on the rise and supply generally is a bit tighter,” he said. “The general trend at this time of year is upward.”

McTeague said Vancouver region prices could rise by a cent or two over the weekend from Thursday’s average of about $1.61 cents per litre but will fall back as the workweek dawns.

Parent said Vancouver prices are higher than anywhere else in North America because of logistical issues including the inability to transport more refined fuels from Alberta on the fully booked Trans Mountain pipeline from Edmonton to Burnaby, B.C.

“They can’t bring enough product from Alberta into the region, so they have to go out and get imports, and over the last while those have been higher priced because the import market is fairly competitive on the West Coast right now,” he said.

Kinder Morgan Canada Ltd. has threatened to abandon an expansion of the Trans Mountain pipeline by May 31 because of continued opposition from the B.C. government.