THUNDER BAY - Higher gas prices faced by those in Thunder Bay and other northern communities are "totally unfair" and "absolutely unacceptable," according to Ontario premier Doug Ford.
Ford made the comments at a Queens Park press conference Saturday afternoon, saying the disparity in fuel prices between the north and the rest of the province was a problem.
"It’s totally unfair that you’re paying 90-some-odd cents in Thunder Bay and Kenora in other places, but in urban areas, you’re paying 70 cents," he told reporters. "Are the gas companies just trying to gouge people?"
Gas prices jumped by about 10 cents in Thunder Bay earlier this week, again reaching more than 90 cents per litre. The average price for a litre of gas in Ontario Saturday was 80.5 cents, according to GasBuddy.
It's an issue Ford promised on Saturday his government was aware of and working to address, while offering scant details on what that work involved.
“We have our Minister of Energy, Greg Rickford, all over this," he said. "We’re going to get an explanation off the gas companies for this, because it’s absolutely unacceptable [that] people are paying 20 or 30 per cent more in Thunder Bay, Kenora and other regions."
"We’ll get to the bottom of this," Ford pledged. "We’re already all over this, and there’s no better person than Minister Rickford… he’s on it, I promise you.”
