Doug Ford likes to think he can predict the future. Martin Regg Cohn writes:
April 1 marked the imposition of what he calls the “job-killing” federal carbon tax, imposed on any province that failed to put forward a credible plan of its own to curb greenhouse gas emissions. On the eve of that day of infamy, Ford led his fellow Tories in a co-ordinated Twitter assault against Ottawa:
“Today’s the last day to fill your gas tank before the federal carbon tax makes life more expensive for your family,” Ford warned. “We’ll keep fighting to stop this terrible tax with every tool at our disposal.”
Now consider what has happened to gas prices since Ford's doomsday announcement:
The numbers tell the story: If you are price-sensitive at the pump, the carbon tax is the least of your problems.
Ford was absolutely correct — for a day, the same way a broken clock gets it right twice a day. At other times, his predictions are proving as reliable as Wiarton Willie’s spring forecasts on Groundhog Day.
On the eve of the carbon tax last March 31, Toronto’s pump price averaged 114.7 cents a litre (all data from the Fuel Price Trends analysis on gasbuddy.com).
By April 2, the price was up 4 cents a litre — close to the estimated 4.4 cents tax impact. But then it went down, by a penny, the next day. Only on April 5 did it fully reflect the tax increase, reaching 119.9 cents per litre (up 5.2 cents).
But gas prices didn’t stop there. And there’s the rub behind Ford’s flub.
By mid-April, average Toronto prices crept past 121.1 cents, surging to 130.4 cents on the 27th. That’s a full 15.7 cents a litre higher — or more than three times as much — as the 4.4-cent federal carbon tax that so vexed the premier’s Progressive Conservative government.
Thanks to the laws of economics that even our premier can’t upend or suspend, gas keeps going up. Or down. Or up again.
Average gas prices in Toronto are now about where they were on June 7 last year — 131.9 cents a litre — the day Ford won the provincial election. Which proves everything and nothing about his magical powers of persuasion and prediction.
Unfortunately, a large number of Ontarians believe that Ford can see the future.
Fools travel in packs.
Image: The Toronto Star
4 comments:
Even the peak prices you mention, Owen, are enough to make a British Columbian drool in envy.
From what I see here in the East, Mound, I can only conclude that British Columbians are giving up something else just to drive their cars.
I'd like to publish your comment, Anon, but it needs to be initialled.
I am not on Facebook, Anon. Someone else must have put the post up. You are well within your rights to ask that they review the post. If they take it down, that doesn't bother me.
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