CTV.ca
Gas prices shot up right across the country overnight, with some stations in Vancouver reaching $1.28 a litre while pumps hit $1.13 in Halifax.
Montreal motorists saw prices reach $1.18 on Tuesday, while Calgary residents saw prices increase by nine cents overnight to around $1.08.
Across the Greater Toronto Area, the cost of gasoline climbed to $1.08 a litre, up from about $1.05 on Monday.
In Ottawa, prices at the pumps also rose three cents a litre to just under $1.10.
Liberal MP Dan McTeague, the consumer affairs critic and longtime critic of the oil industry, says prices have soared to the highest levels since Hurricane Katrina.
McTeague says the increase can be blamed on a jump in the wholesale price for gasoline. He adds refineries increased the wholesale price and the gas companies have now passed along the price hike to motorists.
Industry analysts say the problem is also the result of a tight monopoly held by Canada's oil giants.
"This is an example of just how strong of a monopoly we have in the production and distribution of gasoline," McTeague said.
"You can't blame the retailers and the independents, they only take the price."
McTeague also says the monopoly exists because Canada's Competition Act is too weak.
The Competition Bureau says there is no proof of collusion in Canada's oil industry.
Another factor analysts cite as a reason behind the rise in prices is that gasoline inventories in the U.S. have fallen for 11 straight weeks because of problems at some refineries.
The kidnapping of six foreign oil workers in Nigeria and the death of a Nigerian sailor who was killed when militants attacked an oil vessel on Tuesday is also being blamed.
A Nigerian spokesperson for California-based Chevron said four Italians, one American and one Croatian were abducted. The company shut down an oil station, decreasing production by 15,000 barrels a day.
Bad timing
No matter what the cause, the president of the Consumers' Association of Canada says consumers are "exhausted and frustrated" and are being gouged at the pumps.
"We've got no satisfactory explanations as to why these huge price rises take place year after year,'' Bruce Cran, whose group received hundreds of calls Tuesday from motorists looking for answers, told the Canadian Press.
Cran said his group was surprised constant price hikes haven't led to civil unrest.
"We're probably too nice in Canada,'' he said. "We don't see riots. I don't know at what figure Canadians turn nasty."
The price jump comes as motorists gear up for the busy driving season, and the costs could continue to climb.
"We're going to be getting into the driving season, and there's going to be more demand and lower supplies, (which will) obviously will drive the price up," BNN's Michael Kane told CTV's Canada AM on Tuesday.
"But then in other years, we have also heard of this scare that this might happen, and they manage to ramp up the refineries and get more product into the marketplace, and the price stays stable or comes down a little bit."
Kane said a major infrastructure problem such as a breakdown in a pipeline could result in shortages and drive gas prices up even higher.
Even in the gasoline business, however, there was customer loyalty to be found. One motorist told CTV Toronto she was filling up for $1.068 a litre although she could have paid one cent cheaper across the street.
"I always come here, I just like him," she said of the gas station owner. "He's a good businessman and I go from here to get my Tim Horton's coffee."