Ontario drivers woke up to an average fuel price of 170.2 cents per litre on Thursday and Premier Doug Ford was among those frustrated by the gas price increase.

During a question and answer period at a stop in Oakville, Ont., Ford went off on gas prices, mentioning concerns about price gouging and comparisons to gas prices south of the border.

The average price of gas in Ontario climbed 7.7 cents overnight due to the change from winter to summer gasoline, but depending on where you are in the province you may have seen a jump as high as 22.3 cents.

“You go out last night and you’re sitting there for 20 minutes in the line up to get gas, you know, and it’s unacceptable. Everywhere I was going, it was about a buck, 59. You wake up this morning and it’s $1.80. You know, it’s absolutely disgusting.”

Ford first aimed his frustration at oil companies, wondering if tanks at the gas station are drained of winter gas overnight or if consumers are being gouged.

“I have my opinion that it’s not physically possible to drain every single gas station and put the fresh stuff in, so either you’re putting the fresh stuff in last month or you’re gouging the people right now.”

He then pointed to prices in the United States, particularly in Illinois and Minnesota, which have similar climates, where prices have not gone up.

However, Dan McTeague, president of Canadians for Affordable Energy, said those US markets (as well as Western Canada) made the switch from winter to summer gasoline about a month ago as those regions are tied to the Chicago comprehensive prices while most of Ontario’s prices are tied to what happens in the New York Harbour, which switched to the summer blend on April 16.

“More often than not, the refiners will have already begun putting, refined summer blend gasoline even before that date. But that’s the date in which they had to charge it.”

While McTeague conceded that it is possible that not all the gas stations have switched over and that some people are buying winter gasoline at summer gasoline prices, he stressed that the price is not based on the cost of gas within the station, but rather on how much the station will have to pay to replace that gas.

Gas prices seemed to jump the highest in southwestern Ontario, closest to the U.S. border, with the average price sitting at 178.9 cents per litre in Sarnia, 177.9 cents per litre in Chatham and 177.6 cents per litre in Windsor, up 22.3 cents, 18.5 cents and 15.7 cents overnight, respectively.

Elsewhere in Ontario, the price of gas climbed 7.1 cents to 171.1 cents per litre in London, 9 cents to 173.1 cents per litre in Kitchener, 9 cents to 169.8 cents per litre in Hamilton, 15.3 cents to 178.9 cents per litre in Guelph, 8.1 cents to 169.7 cents per litre in Toronto, 16 cents to 179.9 cents per litre in Kingston, 11.3 cents to 172.2 cents per litre in Barrie and 12.3 cents to 169.9 cents per litre in Peterborough.

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