Skip to content

Does the Sault have a gas problem?

Today’s price for one litre of regular unleaded fuel in St. Catharines is 67.3 cents, while in Thunder Bay the price is 72 cents. As you probably know, it's way higher in the Sault
20141201 Chain of Office Detail Mayor Christian Provenzano KA
FILE PHOTO: Detail of Chain of Office as worn by Mayor Christian Provenzano. Kenneth Armstrong/SooToday

The mayor of Sault Ste. Marie says he has been looking into the reasons why gas prices in the city are not in line with most other cities in the province.

If you look at gas in Thunder Bay it is considerably cheaper than it is here, gas in St. Catharines is considerably cheaper than gas here — so what do St. Catharines and Thunder Bay have in common that Sault Ste. Marie doesn’t?” asked Provenzano rhetorically.

According to GasBuddy.com, today’s price for one litre of regular unleaded fuel in St. Catharines is 67.3 cents, while in Thunder Bay the price is 72 cents.

The lowest gas price in Sault Ste. Marie as of the writing of this article is 95.9 cents per litre.

“When you look at gas prices you wonder why there would be such a disparity and you look at some commonalities between some cities and try to make sense of it,”” said Provenzano.

Like Sault Ste. Marie, both St. Catharines and Thunder Bay are situated along the Great Lakes shipping channel and are fairly close to U.S. border crossings.

In January, city council in Timmins passed a motion requesting a formal answer to the reason for the high cost of gas in that city — from their local MPP, from Premier Kathleen Wynne and the provincial ministers for Northern Development and Mines and Energy.

Today’s gas price in Timmins is 95.6 cents per litre, slightly lower than in the Sault.

The highest gas price in Ontario can be pumped from Pickle Lake, at 118.9 cents per litre.

Provenzano said he has been looking into the high price of gas on his own, but will reach out to Timmins Mayor Steve Black to have a conversation about that city’s efforts in the near future.

“If when the cost of oil goes up the cost of gas goes up, you would figure when the cost of oil goes down — substantially down — that gas would follow to a significant degree. It has in certain communities. It’s lowered here, but I think the question is: ‘Why is it significantly higher here than a number of other cities in Ontario?” asked Provenzano rhetorically.


What's next?


If you would like to apply to become a Verified reader Verified Commenter, please fill out this form.




Kenneth Armstrong

About the Author: Kenneth Armstrong

Kenneth Armstrong is a news reporter and photojournalist who regularly covers municipal government, business and politics and photographs events, sports and features.
Read more