Columns and Letters

Scuttle - Kicking the political gasoline football

 

-by Bill Dunphy 

Regulated or not, rural Nova Scotians are getting gouged at the gas pumps and no political party or politician is going to endear themselves to the motoring public by supporting the status quo or by deregulating the price of gasoline. In fact, the whole issue is a tempest in a jerry can.

First off, let’s set the record straight on one thing: that no government is going to stop taxing gasoline. The feds get their excise tax (10-cents per litre), the province gets its gas tax (15.5-cents per litre) and then both levels of government get another kick at the can (the can being us) by taxing us again with the HST (15 per cent) being applied to the total at the pump. In Canada’s Ohmigod Taxground, otherwise known as Nova Scotia, that means roughly 43-cents per litre of gasoline is tax. At the current cost per litre, if there were no taxes at all, we would pay approximately 96-cents per litre.

Part of Stephen McNeil’s election platform was to remove the tax on tax on gasoline, or at least the province’s portion of the HST, which would lower the price per litre by about four cents. Given the deficit Nova Scotia is running, the federal Conservatives aren’t going to support a change in the HST agreement if the province is going to eventually seek compensation for loss of revenue that would result from taking the provincial portion of the HST off gasoline. After all, we Nova Scotians still want the government to continue providing services for the taxes it collects, such as education, health care, and these lovely roads and bridges we get to drive on.

Guessing that the Harper government is going to tell McNeil to go pound sand, our premier’s only other option to live up to his promise is to deregulate gas prices this fall, which costs his government nothing and would amount to us saving about a penny per litre. And since pennies no longer exist, we will still be the victims of the volatile and utterly confusing petroleum market.

As a member of the opposition, it is Allan MacMaster’s job to toe the party line by arguing against what the government proposes. In the case of gasoline pricing, it is an easy thing to do. In researching this column, there is no shortage of studies and commentaries making strong cases for both regulation and deregulation. In the end, it is my opinion neither makes a huge difference for consumers or retailers. Those who sell gasoline make a pittance per litre either way, approximately four or five cents per litre (and even lower in some cases).

The basis of MacMaster’s argument is that deregulation will negatively affect rural gas retailers. The reality is that gas retailers are negatively affected anyway just by being gas retailers. If a gas station is relying solely on its gas sales, then they are probably lucky to just break even. They have learned a long time ago that they need the additional income from also being a service station with a mechanic or by operating a convenience store. That is not going to change with deregulation. What also is not going to change is the advantage rural gas retailers already have and that is the lack of competition. Gas sales in places like Belle Cote and Judique are going to remain fairly consistent one way or the other. It’s what these businesses do in conjunction with selling gas that will determine their profitability in the future.

There will be surely plenty of ballyhooing going on by all three provincial parties leading up to the inevitable deregulation of gasoline pricing. It’s a ready-made vehicle for all our politicians to be seen to be fighting for Nova Scotians during the dog days of summer. But it won’t matter a whit in the long run. In case, MacMaster is a little light on his party’s history, former Tory premier Don Cameron deregulated gas prices in 1991 in response to public pressure to “do something.” In 2006, Rodney MacDonald picked up where John Hamm left off and brought in gas-price regulation in response to public pressure to “do something.” It’s fourth and long in 2014, and it appears McNeil is about to punt that political football once again. The only problem is, when it comes to gas prices, nobody’s scoring touchdowns against the powerhouse oil companies.

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Just as an idea that will never float (but worth throwing out anyway): what if gas-price regulation meant having a fixed price for gasoline for six-month or one-year periods at a time? Imagine if the price of milk or a loaf of bread fluctuated weekly like gas prices do, steadily increasing despite occasional drops in the prices? Knowing that the price of a necessary commodity is going to remain stable for a certain length of time allows families and businesses to be better able to budget their money. As it stands now, we’re already being gouged every time we fill up. If the price remained consistent, at least then the gouging would be less painful.

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Okay you chipmunks! I know you can read and I want you all to stop jumping out in front of me everywhere I go in this county! Where the heck are you all coming from anyway? Seeing a chipmunk in town, like squirrels, was once a rare occasion. But now you almost have to run inside an open door to close it quickly before the little buggers beat you inside. I had one run across Central Avenue in front of me by the bank the other day, and luckily I passed over it. I’ve seen another (or the same one) flattened on the highway in front of Freeman’s Pharmacy.

So listen up Simon...Theodore...Alvin...Alvin?...Alvinnnnn! I will only do so much while driving along our highways. I will attempt to slow down, and I will try to dodge you within my lane, but I will NOT go into the ditch for you. Just ask the rabbit that got caught in my wheel-well once when my girls were still young. “Daddyyyyy! You’re killing him!!!” I was public enemy #1 for awhile, but at least everyone got home safely.

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I know the RCMP do it on occasion, but I wish they did more of it: pull over and ticket drivers who insist on driving 60 km/h, or less, in an 80 km/h zone, despite a long line of motorists behind them who have limited opportunities to pass on roads like Route 19, and where there is usually oncoming traffic when a passing lane does come along. When there isn’t, then often the car behind the slow one won’t pass, or the cars are so bunched up it’s impossible to pass just one. And in Nova Scotia, you are not supposed to pass more than once car at time, or to follow a car that is passing another until it has completed the pass. All of which doesn’t leave many options for drivers who want to drive at the speed limit.

And still with highway safety, is anyone else noticing the growing number of vehicles that don’t have daytime running lights? I’m assuming these are American cars and trucks, either driven by tourists or by people who have bought vehicles south of the border. But in a country where such lights are mandated, it creates a dangerous situation, especially at dawn and dusk. If you become accustomed to the fact that you will always see an oncoming vehicle because it is required to have their lights on, it creates a false sense of security and opens the door for a head-on collision when a vehicle doesn’t have them on. The RCMP have my permission to ticket these people too.

What’‘s raising your ire on the highways these days?

 

 


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