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Metro Vancouver gas prices smashed the all-time record high. Here's what to expect now

Prices are expected to continue to climb this year.
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Metro Vancouver, B.C. gas prices smashed the record on Feb. 13, 2022, at 180.9 cents per litre. An analyst forecasts that prices will continue to climb. Photo: Getty Images

Metro Vancouver gas prices reached an all-time record high this weekend. 

On Sunday (Feb.13), several outlets in the region were selling gas for 180.9 cents per litre, which broke the previous record of 176.9 cents set on Feb. 6.

Dan McTeague, the President of Canadians for Affordable Energy (and formerly of GasBuddy.com), predicted that gas prices would reach 179.9 by Sunday.

In early January, the petroleum analyst tweeted that he expected 2022 gas prices to rise an additional 20 per cent between February and May, which will also "hit food prices."

Gasoline prices rose by roughly $0.14 per litre in the Lower Mainland between Dec. 22, 2021 and Jan. 1, 2022, when they hit $1.69 per litre. Metro Vancouver has seen those kinds of price spikes before, but they typically happen in the summertime, when demand for gasoline is higher, not in the wintertime.

McTeague expects gas prices to continue to climb in Canada with an increase on Apr. 1 due to the Trudeau government's carbon tax, which will rise 25 per cent to $50/tonne of industrial greenhouse gas emissions from the current $40/tonne price.

Analysts note that prices are steadily climbing south of the border, too. Gasbuddy.com notes that gas prices have climbed for the seventh week in a row due to the imminent threat of Russia invading Ukraine. Additionally, Patrick De Haan, head of petroleum analysis at GasBuddy, remarks that the "multi-month transition to summer gasoline" is also driving up prices at the pumps. 

With files from Nelson Bennett / Business in Vancouver