Statistics Canada
www.statcan.gc.ca
Common menu bar links
The price of oil
Archived Content
Information identified as archived is provided for reference, research or recordkeeping purposes. It is not subject to the Government of Canada Web Standards and has not been altered or updated since it was archived. Please contact us to request a format other than those available.
Given oil’s dominant role in so many aspects of the Canadian economy and our daily lives, when prices go up, we feel the effects. So Canadians were feeling the pinch in 2005, as global instability, natural disasters and a growing world appetite for oil combined to lift the price of oil to record levels.
But oil’s new record highs are merely the latest increases in what has been a steady rise in oil prices since the 1990s. Industry has seen the price of crude oil almost double from 1997 to 2004, and rise another 60% by July 2005. Moreover, companies relying on products derived from crude oil, such as gasoline, heavy fuels and lubricants, have seen costs for these items rise by 60% from 1997 to 2004, and double by July 2005.
Naturally, these price increases get passed down from industry to consumer. From 2000 to 2005, for example, transportation costs rose nearly 15% and home fuel oil bills increased more than 50%. Nowhere were the increases more visible than at the gas pump, where prices can be highly volatile. From July 2000 to July 2005, the price of gasoline climbed 27%; by August, it rose another 7%, and by September another 11%.
Since transportation costs account for about one-fifth of average household expenses (and gasoline alone nearly 5%), it is not surprising that the hunt for cheap gasoline is practically a national pastime. But the cost of filling up differs from city to city. In October 2003, Winnipeggers and Edmontonians were paying nearly 10% less for gas than the national average, whereas people in Saint John were paying 14% more.
