[Sundancefisher]

Originally Posted by CBintheNorth

Who said, inferred, or implied that Marxism is what everyone is after? Who in this thread has even hinted at wanting free gas??
In case you weren't already aware of this, sarcasm seriously degrades the validity of your responses and arguments.

To answer your previous request for a link:
https://montreal.ctvnews.ca/mobile/g...ight-1.3610927

And price fixing is very real and does happen in good 'ol Canada.
https://www.google.ca/amp/s/www.theg...ticle37395447/
https://www.google.ca/amp/s/www.theg...article534996/

Actually, here's a whole slew of CONVICTIONS for price fixing:
http://www.competitionbureau.gc.ca/e...eng/03079.html
(For some reason I can only get the link for Quebec convictions to paste properly). All convictions can be seen on the gc.ca website.

Although a couple of years old, this article gets my point across fairly well and only rings truer today.
https://globalnews.ca/news/2178192/h...-oil-plummets/

And before you call me a communist, my reference to 'private companies' wasn't specifying oil companies, I was implying that crown corporations shouldn't be targeting a profit. Private isn't even in the same world.

Should O&G companies be able to make 5-10% profit? Sure.
Should they be able to subsidize that same profit with a necessity of life which they also control? Not in my opinion. But nor do I believe they should take a loss either. Balance is key. $45 oil and $1.26 gas is the largest spread I can ever recall.

And my statement about Supply and Demand is very valid. Canadian consumption has stayed relatively steady over the last several years at 40-42B litres/yr.
If you can show me a chart which directly shows consumption locked to price I'd love to see it.
I looked. Can't find one.
And anyone that does work in O&G (hate to burst your bubble, but I do) knows that refineries ramp up production prior to all scheduled shut-downs so that supply shortages are avoided and their competition doesn't gain market share. Hence the pressure to be back up on schedule. The "there's a shut down going on right now" excuse only works on sheeple.
Unplanned shut-downs are a different story and very rare.
Anyway, different views are a good thing. Keeps things interesting.

Very few industries/companies will ever risk capital for a chance at 5-10% profit unless a utility with a monopoly.

Yes collusion does happen but rare because it is criminal.

Loblaws got lucky because they turned snitch.

Your spread does not take into account costs and refining margins which makes companies produce one product over another hence supply and demand.

Again...you are good at searching. You say companies should make a profit. Find 3 oil companies making a 10% after tax profit over the past three years.

In other words if a company is making 20% profit selling gasoline...then you have an argument worth discussing.

Otherwise a company selling gas at $1.26/litre and making less that 15% after tax profit would fall into your argument as being the good guys and not gouging.