New record: Vancouver area gas station puts gas at $1.79/L

The Tilbury Husky gas station in Metro Vancouver has raised eyebrows, as their price of $1.79 a litre for regular fuel is the highest per-litre price on gas in the history of Canada.

The gas stations price is a considerable amount higher than the much more reasonable $1.73 per litre that most Vancouver-area residents are experiencing, according to crowdsourced website GasBuddy.com.

“I don’t think it really helps the brand,” said Dan McTeague to the Vancouver Sun, senior analyst with GasBuddy.com.

McTeague also says that the $1.73 a litre price is probably raking in big bucks for the gas stations, offering a healthy profit margin on the already ridiculous prices.

“My advice would be (to) not shop there, because it’s fairly clear that would be pushing the envelope at a time when prices are high,” McTeague said.

How high will they go? Nobody knows.

When B.C. Premier Horgan was asked about the record-setting prices at the start of April, he said “we’ll see how it goes through the summer. And if there’s an opportunity to have the province step in and help, we’ll do that,” adding that he was still “hopeful there will be some correlation between the commodity price and the retail price.”

While promising that the government may provide relief, there were no specificities as to what that could entail. According to the Vancouver Sun, almost 34 cents of every litre of gas purchased in Metro Vancouver is controlled by the province, including the 17-cent TransLink tax, two motor fuel taxes totalling 8.5 cents, and the carbon tax, which rose to about 8.9 cents on April 1.

Another 1.5 cent per litre increase is coming on July 1, when the TransLink regional fuel tax goes up from 17 cents to 18.5 cents per litre. So be warned, British Columbians. Perhaps it’s time to switch to electric!