Mission council took the time to gas up an idea for lowering fuel prices last Monday.
Mayor Paul Horn motioned to send a letter to all fuel companies with outlets in Mission to advise them of community concerns about pricing equity.
The mayor says Mission residents have expressed to City Hall that current fuel prices are often equal to or higher than in Maple Ridge despite the lack of a transit surcharge to fuel sales by the Fraser Valley Regional District. He said there was previously an approximate 13 or 14 cent lower fuel price in Mission than in Maple Ridge after crossing the Stave River Bridge.
“The reason why I thought this needed to be moved forward is that it’s a legitimate question on behalf of our citizens to ask the fuel companies why that has suddenly gone away,” Horn said. “In some cases, the fuel prices are actually a little higher than they are in Maple Ridge.”
“My initial impulse was to say, the federal government regulates oil companies and fuel prices and taxation is determined at a provincial and federal level — we don’t have much say on that,” he said. “Metro Vancouver, however, does.”
Councillors Jag Gill and Danny Plecas both spoke in support of the motion and it passed unanimously. The council will write to fuel companies asking them to voluntarily address the issue with their merchants. If that fails, the next option is asking the BC Utilities Commission to look into the pricing.
“The motion is to ask them to voluntarily look into this and get back to reality and being fair to people, because they’re being very grinchy,” Horn said.