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LETTERS TO THE EDITOR: Gas companies gouging

Gas station operators charge more for fuel in Nanaimo because they can, says letter writer
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Gas station operators charge more for fuel in Nanaimo because they can, says letter writer. (NEWS BULLETIN FILE PHOTO)

To the editor,

Re: Fuel prices an easy target for politicians, Editorial, Nov. 19.

Gas prices are higher in Nanaimo than anywhere else on Vancouver Island except the north end of the Island. Over the course of a week, I also went to Courtenay-Comox and the Lower Mainland where the prices were much lower. Further, research indicates that the gas prices throughout the rest of the southern Island are always much lower than those in the Nanaimo area.

Why are the gas companies charging more for gas in Nanaimo? I suspect the answer is ‘because they can.’ They have no qualms with over-pricing the gasoline here and you can’t tell me that they don’t collaborate with each other to keep the prices high.

I realize that lower gas prices are some distance away, either north or south, but I think it’s time to make the effort to purchase our gas elsewhere in order to send the gouging gas companies a message. Their current practices are unacceptable and their endless desire to soak every spare penny from us is no longer going to be tolerated.

It’s time we got a big box store gas bar in Nanaimo in order to bring the prices to a more fair and realistic level.

Gas companies, it’s time to stop gouging us in the Nanaimo area.

Stuart Cunningham, Nanaimo

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To the editor,

Re: Fuel prices an easy target for politicians, Editorial, Nov. 19.

I am just wondering why fuel prices are much higher here than in Vancouver. They pay a 17-cent transit tax and yet we pay 10 cents more per litre. Customers just seem to quietly accept this gouging.

Why does Ladysmith have cheaper fuel when it’s trucked from here to get there? This discrepancy should be focused in the print media.

Now I feel a little better.

William Cosgrave, Nanaimo


The views and opinions expressed in this letter to the editor are those of the writer and do not reflect the views of Black Press or the Nanaimo News Bulletin. If you have a different view, we encourage you to write to us or contribute to the discussion below.