NDP pledges to end gas pump 'gouging' but details are vague

The leader of Ontario's New Democrats pledged in vague terms to tackle long-weekend spikes in gas prices on Sunday, alleging that opportunistic gas companies are gouging hard-pressed motorists at the pumps.

Campaigning in Ottawa ahead of the June 7 provincial election, Andrea Horwath took aim at a trend she said was the result of corporate greed.

"It's not really price fixing," Horwath said. "We won't allow the industry, on a whim and for the purposes of sucking more profits at an opportune time, to do so at the expense of everyday people who have no other choice but to get into a car and fill up the tank."

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Gas prices routinely jump ahead of long weekends, which the industry attributes to market dynamics increased demand and a function of distances to distributors.

While Horwath said she wasn't looking to repeal the laws of supply and demand, she said people who have no choice but to get in their cars and drive shouldn't be penalized. The idea, she said, would be to fix prices a week ahead of long weekends when spikes typically occur.

"We think that it is an abuse to simply gouge people at the pumps because there's a long weekend coming," Horwath said. "We're going to prevent that spike from happening and keep the price of gas consistent throughout the week."

Gas prices have also been on the minds of the other two party leaders. Last Wednesday, the Progressive Conservatives' Doug Ford stood outside a gas station in Oakville, Ont., to promise a reduction in gas prices by 10 cents per litre if he becomes premier.

Ontario drivers now pay 14.7 cents per litre in provincial tax and 14.3 cents on diesel and Ford said the Tories would reduce both taxes to nine cents. He also promised to scrap the province's cap-and-trade system that has added 4.3 cents a litre to gasoline.

"(Drivers) are frustrated at being gouged at the gas pumps," Ford said. "This will stimulate the economy when we put money back into their pocket."

For their part, Liberal Premier Kathleen Wynne said it's normal for prices to move up and down and said Ford's promise to bring prices down was dubious. Global forces, Wynne said, tend to be the largest factor in gas prices.

"I know he's saying that he'll take 10 cents out we know that most people won't feel that," Wynne said. "The reality is that the prices fluctuate vastly, wildly."

Horwath was vague on the details of her scheme but said she would not look to cap gas prices. Overall, she said she recognized that gas prices are set in New York but other jurisdictions have systems for stabilizing the cost of filling up and an NDP government would look at best practices before moving on the pledge.

The party said the Ontario Energy Board, which currently regulates the price of natural gas and electricity to homes, could take on the task of regulating pump prices.

The NDP would ensure any measures put in place would be hard to for a future government to undo, Horwath said.

Horwath also said people in a given region should pay similar prices. The idea of going on a drive and running into different prices is frustrating and unnecessary, she said.

"You get to the next destination and, all of a sudden, the gas is say five cents cheaper and you feel like you've been ripped off because you've just paid five cents more 40 kilometres down the highway," Horwath said.

"That's got to stop."