The Competition Bureau of Canada is honouring a request from Kenora-Rainy River MPP Greg Rickford.
The agency has agreed to look into the reasons for gasoline prices being higher in northwestern Ontario than anywhere else.
Rickford hopes it will result in “lower gas prices and “an understanding by people in northwestern Ontario what the hell has been going on and how gas prices can be transparent for all of us in Ontario”.
Rickford calls it a serious investigation.
He says the Bureau will be taking a very careful look at local industry participants, the supply change, as well as the data around wholesale and retail gasoline prices and margins.
On November 30th, Rickford drew the Bureau’s attention to evidence that gasoline prices in northwestern Ontario did not decrease as they did in the rest of Ontario when the cap-and-trade carbon tax was cancelled.
The Energy Minister suspects it will take a couple of months for the Bureau to complete its work.
In a letter to Greg Rickford, Interim Commissioner of Competition Matthew Boswell stated “I share your concerns and recognize that gasoline prices are an important issue for many Canadians”.
He says “cracking down on anti-competitive conduct in the gasoline sector remains a priority for the Bureau and we take action if we find evidence of conduct that is prohibited by the Competition Act.”
The letter goes on to say that since 2008, 33-individuals and 12-companies have pleaded or been found guilty of fixing the price of gasoline in several markets in Ontario and Quebec, with fines totalling more than $6-million and conditional sentences of imprisonment of individuals.
