MAR-O

As predicted, the price of oil is now over $130.00 a barrel and rising, expecting to rise to about $150.00 a barrel by the end of the summer.  The price of oil is basically destroying the world economy, and in North America, we see what it is doing to the air travel industry, the car manufacturing, and to the price of food.  Yet, the OPEC countries are trying to put the blame on the stock speculations and the U.S. dollar as excuses, but have refused to increase their supply of oil, which would lower the price.  The fact is that if the OPEC countries wanted to lower the price of oil, they could do so, and this would drive the stock speculators out of the equation.

To think that five years ago, the price of oil was $24.00 a barrel, and two years ago, Saudi Arabia said they could live on $80.00 per barrel (and very well at that), shows a callous and contemptuous behaviour by the OPEC countries to the rest of the world, motivated by nothing more than greed.

We motorists in North America cannot fight the OPEC countries that are so powerful that governments will do nothing to stave off an economic world disaster if nothing is done.  But we can deal with North America oil companies who supply the consumers. MAR-O states that the only weapon we have is the boycott.  There are sceptics who argue that we should instead purchase les gas, purchase more economical cars, and increase public transportation.  MAR-O believes that these are excellent goals, but if we do nothing in the meanwhile, the price of oil will continue to rise. Lets bring the price of oil down first, and then proceed to reduce our dependency on fossil fuels.

In 10 to 15 years, we will all be driving either hybrid or electric cars, but lets face the present problem by fighting an industry that has become the “Evil Empire” of the World.  This is a “war”, and we must fight the enemy.  We have however only one weapon – the Boycott.  It will work if we come under one umbrella, and act in unison.  There are citizens who are instituting their own boycott by asking friends to boycott gas stations for a few days or a week.  MAR-O appreciates their efforts, as it is moving in the right direction, but as indicated, it will not work unless we boycott one station only for periods for at least one month at a time.  Remember, boycotts are legal, non-violent, and are the only power that consumers have, and it costs nothing to implement.  MAR-O therefore asks all motorists to start the boycott against all Esso stations for the period stated in the month of June.  What can you lose in this endeavour?  Nothing, but everything to gain.

John Weingust
President of MAR-O

(John Weingust, President of MAR-O - photo: Louie Palu/The Globe and Mail)

As an activist for motorists, I have for years fought the City of Toronto on its policy of parking violations, which I believe, has been used for the prime purpose of obtaining revenue and not for regulating traffic as a whole. I have now turned my attention to the price we pay for gas at gas stations, which I believe, to be a rip-off. There are two evils in the world. One is violence, and the other is greed. The epitome of greed was recently witnessed when the gas stations in Greater Toronto raised the price of gas from the already exorbitant price of $1.20 per litre to $1.22 over the weekend when the TTC workers suddenly went on strike without notice. The oil industry has been talking of the price of gas going higher this summer, even though there is no shortage of oil in the world. The price of oil today is not governed by supply and demand, and the fact is that investment speculation is the largest component of increased oil prices. Even more shocking, “the CIBC World Markets predicted that crude oil prices would soar to more than 200 (U.S.) a barrel over the next five years. That would mean a single fill-up, at $2.25 per litre, would cost more than $100.00 for an economy car like the Honda Fit or Toyota Yaris” (Globe Auto – May 1, 2008).

The oil industry is free to raise its price on any whim or excuse, such as blaming a refinery breakdown in any country in the world, and get away with it. The fact is that the oil industry controls the distribution of gasoline by refusing to build more refineries, which would increase the distribution, or by limiting production on its existing refineries. Here we have a product, which is affecting our environment and economy of the world, and our governments have failed to do anything about it. And why would they, and when our Canadian government derives huge revenue from its taxes on gas. They are not about to kill the golden goose. They rather “kill” the consumer. In fact, the Canadian Federal Government received 5 billion dollars in tax revenue from the sale of gas in 2006-2007. Furthermore, our Federal Government is putting billions of dollars into the tar sands in Alberta, and the only people who will benefit from this project is Alberta and the oil industry. And no doubt the price of gas will further rise to make up for the cost of this questionable project.

As motorists, we have no protection to fight rising and exorbitant gas prices. The Competition Bureau of Canada, which is supposed to protect the public from price fixing and gouging, will do nothing, and its existence is basically a farce, as it has no real power to do anything although they have witnessed over the years the rising price of gas being sold at the same price at every station, and changing prices in unison everyday or every hour. The Consumer Protection Act is another useless piece of legislation, and motorists feel helpless by throwing up their hands and saying “But what can we do?”

I have now started an organization called MAR-O (Motorists Against Rip-Offs), which I hope will try to stop the gouging of motorists, and its prime object at this time is to fight the oil industry in its pursuit of greed. MAR-O wants to launch a campaign of boycott against one station for the month of June 2008, as this is the only weapon that motorists have. A boycott will work if the majority of motorists adopt this plan. MAR-O has decided to choose Esso Stations as the station to boycott, because they operate through Exxon Mobil, who made $40 billion in profit last year (after taxes), and did not pass on one penny to its consumers by lowering prices. While motorists will still have to pay the existing high price of gas from the other stations, they can strike a blow to the Esso Corporation, and force them to reduce their gas prices substantially, or the boycott will continue. I believe that a boycott will be successful, and the motorist has nothing to lose by adopting this strategy. But motorists have to be unified and determined for the strategy to work.

John Weingust
President of MAR-O
MAR-O
481 University Avenue
10^th Floor
Toronto, Ontario
M5G 2E9

Email: j.weingust@bellnet.ca