Squamish gas prices: Council backs MLA call for fuel price investigation

Local leaders throw their support behind the push to examine why drivers in the Sea to Sky Corridor are paying a premium at the pump.

Squamish council is adding its voice to the continuing choir singing about the inequity of fuel prices at gas stations in town versus in the city. At its meeting on July 7, council voted unanimously to have Mayor Armand Hurford write a letter in support of West Vancouver – Sea to Sky MLA Jeremy Valeriote’s request that the BC Utilities Commission (BCUC) prioritize monitoring and examination of fuel prices in the Sea to Sky region from Squamish to Mt. Currie. Gas prices are often significantly higher in town than they are in Vancouver and surrounding communities, even though Metro Vancouver communities pay a motor fuel tax for TransLink of 18.50¢ per litre.

The BCUC is an independent regulatory agency of the provincial government that, since 2020, is the administrator of B.C.’s Fuel Price Transparency Act. The gas price issue is something previous Liberal Sea to Sky MLA Jordan Sturdy also worked on over years. A letter from Valeriote to the BC Utilities Commission was included in the agenda for the July 7 council meeting.

In the letter, dated June 24, Valeriote notes that the commission previously, in response to public outcry, analyzed and reported on fuel pricing in the Sea to Sky under the Fuel Price Transparency Act. He writes that that analysis found what locals know well, the Sea to Sky region functioned as a single, integrated market with Metro Vancouver, fuel prices in Squamish were less responsive to changes in wholesale prices than Vancouver, and retail margins were greater in places with less competition, such as Squamish and Whistler. Valeriote writes that “the region’s isolation and reliance on motor fuel heightens the impacts of the current global fuel market volatility,” and also that “there is currently discussion within government of a motor fuel tax to support regional transit.”

He urged the commission to look into the pricing in the region anew. “Given that the region has previously been found to operate as part of a larger market with Metro Vancouver, where an existing TransLink motor fuel tax applies, updated clarity around market assumptions and margins is critical to understanding the impacts a new motor fuel tax may have on fuel prices in the Sea to Sky,” he wrote. Coun.

John French put forward the motion for the mayor to write the letter of support. “In the last few weeks, we've seen significant blatant profit taking from the gas stations in Squamish,” said French. “ With fuel prices significantly higher here compared to the prices charged throughout Metro Vancouver, we're once again seeing big oil trying to defy gravity in Squamish.

Metro Vancouver fuel stations impose a transit tax that isn't applied to fuel purchased in Squamish. And in my mind, this means prices in Squamish should never be higher than the prices in Metro Vancouver.” French said he would like to see a transit tax on fuel that's purchased in town.

“If the oil companies are charging Squamish drivers the equivalent of a transit tax, then I say, let's impose a transit tax on fuel that's purchased here,” he said. “And have that benefit come back to our corridor and our residents and visitors in the form of a regional transit system that'll help reduce the number of private vehicles using Highway 99.” He argued it was important for local governments in the region to back Valeriote’s call.

“Maybe Whistler and Pemberton will follow our lead on this,” he said. Coun. Chris Pettingill supported the resolution but said he was of two minds on it.

“My mixed emotions are on the one hand, it's really frustrating to see the lack of responsiveness of upper levels of government to their citizens—the priority put on loading the pockets of multi-billion dollar fossil fuel companies in a climate crisis instead of funding things like transit and so on, really frustrating. And Squamish is certainly an extreme example of I think fossil fuel greed,” he said. He said his flip-side opposition comes from that higher fuel prices may lead to the end of the fossil fuel industry quicker.

“It's painful right now, but I try to find the silver lining and I think this maybe actually gets us to a good place a little bit faster,” he said. “The more uncomfortable they make us, the faster we make a change to something better.”

Mayor Armand Hurford said Pettingill offers a good debate on the topic, but he can’t support the inequity of the current situation. “Yes, we're headed to that new place. Let's do that in a way that doesn't put either undue burden onto folks' needs who are either needing this right now and haven't been able to make that choice, or let's put the funds that they're collecting to work to serve our community,” he said.

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