TP:Clement knows regulating oil prices is a non-starter
The relationship between crude oil prices and gasoline prices is fantastically more complex than your rather simplistic editorial suggests.
Refinery capacity, Asian demand, futures contracts, supply security and many other factors combine to impact the price of gasoline at a greater rate than the price of crude oil. Only about half of all crude oil is even refined into gasoline. Demand for the other half of the crude has a major impact on crude prices, but not gasoline prices.
Industry Minister Tony Clement knows that there is nothing government can do to regulate an international commodity, unless Canadians think it's more important to subsidize oil than say, pay for health care. These panels have been set up before and the same explanations are given.
We tried regulating prices before to disastrous results in the 1960s and '80s. Savvy companies avoid selling into a government-regulated market.
