YOUR PERSPECTIVE: B.C. gas prices continue to skyrocket amid affordability crisis

It’s a frustrating feeling to watch as the prices at the local gas station increase with each passing day. Right now, we are seeing yet another massive spike in the cost of fuel, with the average price of gas in Metro Vancouver on reaching $2.08 per litre on Monday morning, while prices in the Fraser Valley hover around the $2 mark. The last few years have conditioned us to accept wildly high prices as typical, but no one can argue that $2 a litre for gas is anything close to normal.

It’s hard to believe that just two years ago, the average price for gas in Vancouver was more that thirty cents lower per litre than it is now — and even then, it was often the highest in the country.

For the average British Columbian, this increase in cost has a profound impact on finances. Not just because of the cost of filling up the family car with fuel, but also because skyrocketing gas prices drive unaffordability in every sector. Our goods and services are brought to us in cars, trucks, and other fuel-dependent sources of transportation, meaning that high gas prices make everything from groceries to construction more expensive.

We all notice the impacts of these increasing prices every day. The cost of goods like butter, meat, and vegetables is higher than ever before, the price of housing in B.C. has reached astronomical highs, and the reality of having to choose between filling up the car with gas, or buying groceries has become all too common for many British Columbians. In fact, it’s estimated that more than half of people in B.C. are $200 or less away from insolvency.