Lack of Regulation Means Higher Prices

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Regulation of Industry isn’t about controlling what we get to buy, or even preventing a company from making a profit. For the most part, regulation is about protecting the consumer from fraud, from price gouging, from unreasonable increases. The Egg Board, Wheat Board, are examples where regulation has determined the price of goods, to the wholesale or manufacturer level, that does impact our consumer prices.

Do we need regulation over All Industry?

Personally I don’t think so, but we do need government regulation and oversight over certain sectors that do impact every single Canadian or a large portion of them. Take the BC Ferries as an example. I mean to begin with, the argument that those living on an island made that choice, so why should they be subsidized by having Ferries owned or operated by the Government, or regulated. Truth is simple, that in order to be a nation, we need to be able to travel freely across the country, and that includes going to major island destinations, like Prince Edward Island, or Vancouver Island. Hell, Victoria is the provincial capital, and Mile 0 of the Trans Canada Highway begins IN VICTORIA, not Vancouver.

Yet the Provincial Government saw fit to privatize the Ferry System, and now they are raising prices, and added a fuel surcharge, thanks to the Oil Industry. I have no problem with the surcharge, per se, but I do have a problem with it remaining, when gas is down to about $100 a barrel. This continued surcharge is not about keeping prices down, but is about insuring that the private company running the system make their profit goals.  AT OUR EXPENSE.

BC Ferries passengers will likely have to pay a fuel surcharge for several more months, even though the price of oil is dropping, the president of the corporation told CBC News on Thursday.

Earlier this week, both Air Canada and WestJet announced they would be dropping fuel surcharges and lowering extra baggage fees after the price of oil fell to the $100 US a barrel range, down from a high of roughly $147 US in July. (source – CBC News)

The private company makes the argument that as they didn’t raise the prices until the cost had peaked is interesting. Because they made a bad business decision, we will pay for it for several more months? I tend to think that the reason being given, is simply an excuse. I do not believe that any major business, running a fleet of boats dependent on fuel, would not have taken advantage of surcharges, or other means, to offset the cost. It makes no sense, so I wonder, what is truly behind this attempt to keep the surcharge?

And this is why we need proper regulation of industries. We need independent bodies, free of Government interference, to monitor and check these corporations. Whether it is the BC Ferries or Shaw Cable. We need to keep a close eye on just what they do, when it comes to rates. Telus for example has made several increases, many of which were rejected by the oversight agency, and were forced to return the money charged consumers.

Regulation helps insures that proper safety procedures are in place, instead of leaving it up to the industry itself to decide. Whether it be the Airline Industry on how often a motor gets changes, to a food plant on what cleaning procedures to use for its slicing machines, proper regulation insures that we are protected, that proper procedures are done, based on need, not profits.

To accept that one single slicing machine was the cause of the recent Listeroisis outbreak is stretching it, as far as I believe. Yet under Stephen Harper and other, free enterprise believers, the mantra is to let Industry regulate itself, to let the MARKET be the deciding factor. Well that is bull crap, because as long as they can GET AWAY WITH IT, THEY WILL.

The Oil Industry is one that needs to be monitored. Explain how price dropped, but they suddenly raised it a whack of change? Then, when Harper started getting flak for it, hey magically the price went on a downhill spiral. Fact that Oil per barrel had been dropping for ages, without the price budging, clearly shows that the Industry is not only PRICE GOUGING, but is also MEDDLING INTO POLITICS.

This is why regulation is important. To prevent that from happening, and when it does, to bring it heel, to give them a hard slap across the face, and keep our money in our pockets, not theirs.

Ian @ September 22, 2008