Drivers in the Greater Toronto Area received a shock at the gas pumps Friday morning in advance of the Victoria Day long weekend with prices for regular fuel jumping five cents a litre.
Gasoline was selling for $1.10 per litre Friday morning, prompting frustration from motorists who feel oil companies are gouging their customers.
Toronto-area Liberal MP Dan McTeague predicted the big oil companies would jack up their pump prices in time for the long weekend.
It was an easy prediction to make because oil companies have often jacked up prices just before long weekends.
Industry representatives maintain long weekend price hikes are a myth. The summer months bring an increase in the amount Canadians drive compared to the summer and the Victoria Day weekend marks the unofficial start to cottage season. Higher demand translates into higher prices.
Prices spiked across the country with motorists in Halifax paying an extra 7.2 cents a litre and Vancouver residents paying nearly $1.27.
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Motorists in Toronto expressed frustration at the oil companies and government as they set out for the weekend.
"If you look at this little sticker here," one man said pointing to information about gas prices posted on many pumps. "You see that 34% of taxes. Who should be explaining what?"
Recently soaring pump prices have sparked calls for the federal government to cut taxes. But on Thursday, Prime Minister Stephen Harper dismissed the idea despite promises to do just that in the 2004 election.
The Conservatives revised their platform for the last election campaign by scrapping the gas-tax pledge in favour of a broader tax cut.
Harper said the only way to reduce the price of gas is to move from fossil fuels to alternative energy sources.
The prime minister maintained that he would not be adding any environmental taxes in order to push people to alternative fuels. Doing so, he said, would push prices to roughly two dollars per litre.
At the provincial level, an Ontario backbencher tabled a private member's bill on Thursday demanding that oil companies give 72 hours notice before increasing prices.
Conservative MPP Joe Tascona's bill would also demand that oil companies explain why they are hiking prices.
Toscana believes the frustration consumers feel is caused by a lack of information about price increases.
Premier Dalton McGuinty did not comment on the bill except to say it was "worthy of debate." McGuinty added that he has asked Ottawa to investigate why gas prices seem to increase much faster than fall.
With a report from CTV's Alex Mihailovich and files from The Canadian Press
