Do you suffer from Gas Pain?

You know, part of me accepts the gas price as part of the price of living in the western world, and yeah, maybe it should be used to offset some of the pollution and other wear and tear on Mother Earth... but part of me is pretty annoyed at how seamlessly every gas station in Greater Victoria raises their prices within the same hour. In Vancouver at least there is variation in the prices -- sometimes even within the same block! Not so here. Eventually I calm down and grit my teeth while I pump a few more litres into the tank.

But then I read an article like this one from CTV.ca:

Canadians are being gouged at the gas pumps across the country by as much as 27 cents a litre, says a new report.

The Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives (CCPA) examined gasoline prices before and after Hurricane Katrina and found an unjustified hike in prices after the disaster.

"There's absolutely no doubt in my mind that we're paying far too much at this point for gasoline," Hugh Mackenzie, an economist and researcher with the group, told Canada AM on Thursday.

"There's no doubt in my mind that we're dealing with an industry that has the market power to charge what the market will bear."

Mackenzie said there was a psychological barrier in Canada about paying more than $1 a litre for gasoline. But, after Katrina, the psychological factor was broken and exploited by gas companies.

Yep.

When I ran into Colin (of the Coffee Crew blog) the other day, he told me the real reason for high prices at the pump: The Dog Ate My Refinery. And you know what? From now on I'm going to accept that reason and giggle while I fill the tank instead of gritting my teeth.