Surprising increases in the price of gas at the pump by nearly 15% in less than 24 hours are causing trouble in Saint-Hyacinthe, where motorists have gone so far as to point the finger at Quebec giant Couche-Tard.
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“In Saint-Hyacinthe, the whole city was $1,479 a liter last Monday and the next morning the liter was up to $1,699 at Ultramar de Couche-Tard and all Couche-Tard stations,” surprised Gabriel Chartier, a local resident Retiree who has been scrutinizing prices for ages.
That’s an increase of 22 cents, or nearly 15%, in less than 24 hours. Supporting photos, Gabriel Chartier denounced the situation to the Journal.
“Couche-Tard is the first to raise prices in the city every week,” says the former owner of Saint-Hyacinthe airport.
“It is unusual”
In recent years, local broadcasters that have come under the control of Couche-Tard’s red owl have become greedy, he argues.
Beside him, in a diner, between sips of coffee, his friends were walking in the same direction as him earlier in the week. You feel like Couche-Tard across the street is running the show.
“It makes no sense. It’s not normal for prices to change in the same way,” one of them breathed.
“It’s unusual for changes of this magnitude. Obviously, these are changes in the distribution range,” said Jean-Thomas Bernard, visiting professor in the Department of Economics at the University of Ottawa. (see other text at left for developing margins).
According to him, “there is always some kind of leader” testing the market depending on the region. “If it’s too strong, the others don’t follow suit,” observes the expert.
“In general, the price is slowly coming down. Then there are cracks, which are more visible and motorists suddenly feel them,” notes the director of the Association for the Protection of Motorists (APA), George Iny.
CAA-Quebec mentions that at $1.479 per liter this was a very good price since the acquisition cost was $1.53 per liter in Montérégie last Tuesday.
“The industry is not used to giving gifts to motorists and if such a situation arises, a significant increase in the price at the pump cannot be ruled out,” warns Andrée-Anne Déry, spokeswoman for CAA-Quebec.
$6 million fine
We at the Competitions Bureau refuse to provide any information on the ongoing investigations, but would like to remind you that the organization has already cracked down.
Over the past fifteen years, 33 individuals and a dozen companies “have pleaded or been found guilty of fixing gas prices in Ontario and Quebec,” it says.
“This resulted in more than $6 million in fines, a total of 54 months in prison and a total of 300 hours of community service,” spokeswoman Sarah Brown said.
“It’s illegal for gas stations to agree on the price of gas,” she continues.
By the way, it invites customers and even employees of companies who have information about possible illegal collusion with their competitors to report the situation to the competition bureau.
Couche Tard radio silence
Despite several reminders over the past few days, Couche-Tard has not responded to Journal questions.
Esso recalled that it sold its retail sites in 2016 and that it was the operators who set the fuel price at the gas stations.
Ultramar passed the buck to the Canadian Fuels Association (CCA), who declined our interview request.
On January 10, a class action lawsuit brought by the Automobile Protection Association (APA) resulted in customers in Thetford Mines, Victoriaville, Sherbrooke and Magog receiving a $25 gas rebate.
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