Yellowknife city council to join debate on gas prices

Yellowknife city council is about to enter the debate about gas pricing in the city.

Councillors are hoping to find out why the price at the pump doesn't reflect what's going on in world oil markets.

All councillors have been concerned about this, says city councillor Adrian Bell.

All of the self-serve gas stations in Yellowknife continue to charge $1.389 for a litre of regular unleaded a price that has remained virtually unchanged for three years despite increases and, most recently, decreases in world crude oil prices.

Dan McTeague, a gas price analyst with the website Tomorrow's Gas Price Todayand a former Liberal MP, says thats unusual.

"Even in remote areas, areas that don't have access to any type of vehicle or large truck transportation, we've seen a decline in prices."

McTeague estimates city gas stations are making more than 30 cents on every litre they sell among the biggest profit margins in the country.

At its next meeting, Councillor Bell plans to propose the city investigate the disconnect between gas prices and world oil prices.

He says Yellowknife MLAs have turned to city hall for help in their own effort to lower gas prices.

We'd like to presume that a lot of these retailers are concerned about the cost of living, as we are, so we would like to appeal to them on that basis, he says. If that fails, however, it was suggested by the territorial government that really this is an issue that could be brought to the federal competition bureau.

Bell says the cost of filling up is something he hears about regularly, both as a councillor and a Yellowknifer.

People see this deadlock in prices and it just doesn't seem to make sense. It seems like an unhealthy market where we just don't seem to have enough competition to force prices to track costs a little better.