Crude awakening: my first $60 fill-up has me pumped
Irecorded a new personal best.
It was a bit of a surprise. I thought it might happen the day of the TC10K, but no, no, it looks like my peak came early.
I had to drain the tank to do it, mind you. Drove myself to the limit, was running on fumes. My reward? The numbers at the end.
“It’s my first $60 fill-up,” I told the gas station attendant, shoving my credit card across the counter. I tried to look modest, but couldn’t stop grinning as the clerk (who did a better job than I at feigning a lack of interest) rejected the card and passed back a loan application instead.
I was giddy. Sure, I had come close before — there was that time in February 2008, right after Gordon Campbell introduced B.C.’s carbon tax, when Victoria gas hit $1.53 a litre — but even then I couldn’t quite make the pump click past $59.99. It wasn’t until Wednesday, with the price tickling $1.55 at some stations, that I was able to burn a couple of celebratory smoking-tire NASCAR victory laps around the lot.
It helped, of course, that gas prices jumped a dime in a day. Why? Refineries just switched to more expensive summer blends of gasoline, adding four cents a litre. The price of crude is up. U.S. driving season has arrived, pushing up demand. The gas tax that fuels Greater Victoria’s transit system rose by two cents on April 1, reaching 5.5 cents a litre. At the same time, B.C.’s carbon tax, which was 2.41 cents a litre when Campbell brought it in, rose by a penny to 7.78 cents.
They always have some sort of reason when gas prices rise. Burnaby’s Parkland refinery is down for maintenance, say. Or a Pacific Northwest pipeline is out of commission. Or Alberta is throwing another hissy fit. Or the Washington state refineries are charging us a premium because, well, if we don’t like it they’ll just sell their gas to California instead. They have us over a barrel (as it were). I’d like to thank them all.
Now, I know what you’re saying: Jack, if you really wanted to shatter the magic $60 barrier, why didn’t you buy a less fuelefficient car? Some vehicles suck 60 bucks worth just idling in the drive-thru on the way to Earth Day.
Oddly enough, these vehicles are often driven by the same people who moan the loudest about high gas prices. People who don’t really have to drive something the size of your first apartment. Some people — farmers, builders — might need a rig that big, but it’s not like the rest of us are going to have to clear a rock slide or winch cattle out of the slough while fourwheeling through Fairfield.
No matter what we drive, we react to every gas price jump as though we A) didn’t see it coming, and B) can’t believe Big Oil is getting away with it.
Alas, it’s like being kicked in the crotch by the school bully. First time it happened, in the 1970s, we were shocked, spitting with indignation. We went to the principal and said: “Mr. Trudeau, Big Oil just kicked me in the crotch.”
Then it happened again — oof! — and, frankly, it wasn’t any better the second time around so we went: “Mr. Mulroney, Big Oil just did it again.”
After the third time (“Mr. Chrétien!”), the surprise (though not the sensation) was beginning to wear off, and by the fourth (“Oh, jeez, Mr. Harper”) we had pretty much figured out that, fair or not, getting booted in the nether regions was an occasional fact of life, so we might as well protect ourselves, preferably with something with airbags in front.
Some people adapt. It’s easy to identify them, because they’ll tell you, over and over. “I get 140 kilometres to the litre of canola oil,” they say, poking their heads out of what appears to be a bread maker on wheels. “I charge my car with excess power from my vacuum cleaner. Also, I heat my home with tidal power from the bathtub and play canasta with Suzuki on Wednesday nights. Can I borrow your truck? I have to go to Hartland.”
Of course, we could cut down on driving altogether — going by bus, or walking, or cycling, or carpooling — but that’s not what’s happening. The number of insured vehicles on Vancouver Island rose from 570,000 in 2012 to 630,000 in 2016. Apparently, fuel prices aren’t that high after all, at least not yet.
They say gas could hit two bucks a litre this summer, though. I feel another personal best coming on.