Ontario NDP Is Pushing For Skyrocketing Gas Prices To Be Regulated In New Bill

It's no secret that Ontario gas prices fluctuate wildly. Heck, it's rare for costs not to change throughout the week, but a new NDP bill is looking to fix that.

On Wednesday, Andrea Horwath, the party's leader, announced she had teamed up with NDP MPP Gilles Bisson to table a bill to regulate provincial gas prices.

"At a time when the cost of housing, child care, groceries and everything else is rising fast, record high gas prices are taking a big bite of out family budgets," said Horwath.

The leader also came down hard on premier Doug Ford, accusing him of avoiding the problem for other reasons.

"Doug Ford had three years to fix this problem and stop the gouging. But, like the Liberals, he's siding with his buddies in the oil and gas industries, and the rest of us are paying for it," she added. "You're getting gouged at the gas pump. Let's fix it."

According to NDP's report, Ontarians are paying record-high prices this year, over $1.50 per litre in the GTA and around $1.70 per litre in Timmins, thanks to big chains raising prices when the price of oil drops.

Reportedly, the issue has become particularly hard on the Ontarians who live up North.

"In the north, we've got families spending hundreds of dollars per week to fill up the cars just to get to work and school," Bisson said.

"Government after government doesn't want to take on the oil and gas companies, so they just keep gouging people like us," he concluded.