Photo: Wayne Moore

A Kelowna man fed up with gas pricing in British Columbia decided to take matters into his own hands to get to the bottom of why they can vary so much from one community to the next.

Patrick Day tells Castanet he wrote a letter to Prime Minister Justin Trudeau on another matter and was surprised when he received a response.

"This is my third correspondence with Mr. Trudeau. When I heard back from him the first time I thought this might be a good avenue to get something done."

Day's response was from Jay Khosla, Assistant Deputy Minister Strategic Petroleum Policy and Investment Office, Natural Resources Canada. "Under the Canadian Constitution, the federal government has no jurisdiction over the regulation of petroleum product pricing."

"In regards to gasoline prices in Kelowna, B.C., since the beginning of the year, retail gasoline prices have fallen considerably, from 130.6 cents per litre at the start of the year to 105.9 cents per litre as of May 11, 2020. This is due to the impact of the coronavirus, which reduced global demand for crude oil and refined petroleum products like gasoline," says Khosla.

Day said he saw gas prices jump to 114.9 cents per litre on Friday in Vernon and although he feels like it's positive he got a response, he's not done yet.

"I've followed up and I'm hopeful I'll get a response in a couple of weeks." Day says it may not be the answers he and many other British Columbians were hoping for, but he feels like it was a step in the right direction.

Khosla says in his letter, "If you believe that anti-competitive behaviour has occurred, you may wish to contact the Competition Bureau at 1-800-348-5358."

"The fact that I got a response is better than nothing," says Day.

You can read the entire text of Jay Khosla's response by following the link below.