Gas prices across Canada jumped Thursday ahead of the long weekend.
In Vancouver, the price per litre rose to $1.511, Calgarians saw an increase to $1.249 and in Toronto, prices at the pumps spiked to $1.399, according to TomorrowsGasPricesToday.com
Prices are expected to rise 3.2 cents to $1.419 in Halifax on Friday.
“This is the first long weekend of the summer driving period,” said Dan McTeague, founder of TomorrowsGasPricesToday.com.
Pricing for gasoline during the warmer months tends to be more volatile, he said. Canadians can expect the prices to stay elevated until Tuesday.
But some Canadians got lucky and saw a drop in fuel prices before the long weekend.
In Montreal, gas dropped to $1.479 Thursday morning. In Winnipeg, the price lowered to $1.271.
McTeague said $1.40 is likely the high point for gasoline prices in the GTA for the next few months.
Toronto motorists willing to wait until Friday morning to fuel up for their long weekend getaway will be rewarded with a possible one cent decrease, bringing the price of gas down to $1.389, he said.
Daily fluctuations aside, gas prices in Canada are the highest they have been in three years.
“In Eastern Canada we are increasingly relying on other sources to provide our gasoline,” McTeague said. “We sell a lot of crude from the West. That comes back to us as higher value-added refined product.”
Refineries, which turn crude oil into the product we put in our cars, are closing across the region and Canada doesn’t produce enough gasoline domestically to meet our demand. Gasoline has to imported from the United States are other countries.
McTeague said gas prices differ across the country depending on whether the gas station is independent or owned by a large corporation. Gas sold at big-name stations such as Esso is often cheaper simply because they can absorb the loss of selling gasoline below-cost with big revenues from exporting crude oil.
But, he told CTV Ottawa Wednesday that Canadian gas prices are still about five to seven cents per litre above the world prices.
The strength of the Canadian dollar, speculation on gasoline prices and tension in East Ukraine are some the factors impacting the price of gas this week.
Rising gas prices were highlighted in a Bank of Canada monetary policy report discussing inflation, released Wednesday.
“Energy prices are expected to increase noticeably, owing not only to higher gasoline prices but also to a sharp rise in natural gas prices,” the Bank of Canada said in the report.
McTeague said rising energy prices will eventually impact food prices as costs for farmers and other producers grow.
Canada’s inflation rate rose to 1.5 per cent last month in part due to rising energy costs. Oil prices will continue to climb and could possibly push the inflation rate to two per cent as early as next month, according to Statistics Canada.
With files from CTV Ottawa’s Katie Griffin
