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Brophy also referred Postmedia to an issue statement the association produced in May 2018 regarding the high gas prices in Vancouver at the time. It said demand for gas in the Lower Mainland had “risen significantly” since 2014 at the same time that demand on space in the Trans Mountain pipeline had reduced the amount of refined products that were being sent. Those factors had increased reliance on imported fuel by rail and barge from the U.S., according to the 2018 statement. It also said Vancouver had higher rates of taxes on fuels than other North American jurisdictions.

Lee’s report examined the 55-cents-per-litre increase in pump prices that Vancouver residents have seen since April 2016. Of that figure, 6.3 cents could be attributed to tax increases, Lee found. Another 2.6 cents went to gas stations. The increased price of crude oil, which hits drivers across Canada similarly, accounted for another 28 cents. The rest, about 18 cents, came from increased refining margins, the report states.

Refining margins for Vancouver gas were less than 20 cents per litre as recently as about 10 years ago, according to the report. By mid-April that margin reached 55 cents. That compares with refining margins in Toronto and Calgary that in recent weeks have ranged from 18-32 cents, Lee found.

“We’ve seen this steady increase over time in the margin going to refineries,” Lee said.

Like the fuels association, Lee brought the story back to 2014, when, as he put it, oil prices were “really, really high,” then suddenly crashed. By early 2015 the prices were very low, but the price at the pump in Vancouver hadn’t moved “nearly as much as it should have given the drop in the price in crude,” he said.

“Basically what you have here is refiners stepping in and taking some of that drop as increased profits. And then over the last few years we’ve seen an increase in the margins that are going to refiners,” Lee said. “And they’re doing it because they can.”