Price Gouging

Price Gouging, if I remember correctly, there are some laws that are supposed to protect us against price gouging. So if these laws do exist, then why are Canadians suffering from price gouging? I know as the owner of a car that we are being gouged at the pumps every time we put gasoline in our fuel tanks, but with inflation on the rise, and our dollar on the rise, how are we going to compete with the American dollar?

I found an article on the CBC website entitled Hotter inflation report sends Canadian dollar to 33-year high above $1.03 US that mentions that the soaring dollar should force prices down as most of our goods are imports from the United States. In this article it mentions that it was inflation that pushed our dollar to a 33 year high, but how are we actually going to compete while we our prices are way too high? If Canada wishes to continue enjoying having our dollar at or near par with the American dollar, prices are going to have to deflate a little.

If you reduce the cost of an item, the consumer is going to have more disposable income afterwards, which in turn can be spent on other goods and services. Even a small change like bringing our cost per litre of gasoline down by say ten cents per litre, on average, you will have anywhere between 2 and 10 dollars extra after you fill up your gas tank. What would you do with that little bit of savings? I know that making the cost of a product more affordable, consumers are more likely to purchase the item as well as purchase more items. I'm not an economist, or a financial wizard, but I am tired of seeing inflation on the rise as our dollar becomes more and more competitive in today's markets.

In closing, if you are a Canadian that's just as fed up as I am about high prices, speak out, don't stay quite like a good little Canadian. Every body needs to hear you stand up for yourself, stop corporations from taking advantage of the cash in your wallet, after all, didn't you work hard for that money?

Addition: After a comment on this post I felt the need to mention that a lot of companies have blamed inflation on the cost of oil. Since Canada imports a large portion of oil from the U.S., with a stronger dollar, shouldn't us consumers see the same benefits the refineries are seeing?