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The B.C. public may get some answers Friday on what influences gasoline prices, particularly in the Lower Mainland — among the highest in North America — but may not get hoped-for relief at the pumps.

On the deadline ordered by Premier John Horgan’s NDP government, the B.C. Utilities Commission will deliver the findings of a gas-pricing inquiry Friday morning.

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But two industry observers said the public shouldn’t to get its expectations up that it will lead to reduced gas prices.

“The government’s options are severely limited,” said Werner Antweiler, a professor at the Sauder School of Business at the University of B.C.

Horgan ordered the gas-price inquiry in May when prices at the pump reached $1.70 in the Lower Mainland, saying the public deserved answers about why prices are so much more expensive and variable than in other jurisdictions. At the time, the B.C. Liberals and Alberta government bought ads blaming Horgan and linking his government’s resistance to the Trans Mountain pipeline expansion and taxes to the surging costs.