As winter continues, many people are starting to think ahead to summer plans and potential costs.
Canadians for Affordable Energy believes in terms of gas prices, there shouldn’t be too much driving them up.
Spokesperson Dan McTeague says prices will rise, like every year, because of a few normal factors.
“We shift over from winter to summer gasoline, it’s usually good for about a four cent per litre bump,” explained McTeague.
“Of course the federal government continues to impose more taxes on gasoline to meet its carbon objectives, so that’s probably a seven to eight cent increase.”
“It’s very hard to predict these things, but if there is a major meteorological event that shuts down refinery production in Saskatchewan, it’s not likely you’re going to see gas prices skyrocket.”
There is also concerns with the labour dispute between Federated Co-op and the Co-op refinery employees represented by Unifor.
While the lockout continues, McTeague feels the situation at the Co-op refinery will not affect prices moving forward.
He believes if there was a shut down, it would be a different matter, and that shut down would have to be for an extended period of time.
“The effect wouldn’t just be on Saskatchewan, Saskatoon, Regina or any place in between, it would also affect Manitoba. I’m not seeing that at this juncture and I think it’s more likely to have a labour issue rather than a supply issue.”
Currently there is a potential to see gas prices rise because of tensions between Iran and the United States.
