For the longest time, politicians of all stripes have been fighting against gas companies for the cost of fuel at pumps in Timmins and all across the province for that matter.

This week, Timmins-James Bay MPP Gilles Bisson (NDP) is expected to table a Private Members Bill on that subject.

The “Fairness in Petroleum Products Pricing Act, 2017” would look at regulating gas prices in the province.

Bisson says gas companies and refineries have been “gouging Ontario families for far too long.

“They are currently an unregulated commodity and they can charge us whatever they want,” he says, “This is just wrong and it needs to end.”

He adds the average price of oil has been hovering between $50 and $55 and yet, the retail price of gas doesn’t reflect the barrel price.

Monday morning, GasBuddy says the price of gas in Timmins was just over $1.28 a litre. In Kapuskasing, the price was at $1.13.

If passed, the Ontario Energy Board would regulate the price and wholesale mark up price on petroleum and the Lieutenant Governor in Council would be given the power to govern the board.

“The Bill will guide the Ontario Energy Board and Lieutenant Governor in Council to: protect the interest of consumers with respect to the predictable and consistent retail pricing of petroleum products; prevent pricing practices that undermine the stability and competitiveness of retail markets for petroleum products, including retail markets in remote, rural and northern areas; and ensure transparency and reasonableness with respect to the prices of petroleum products,” he states.

Filed under: Local News