Sask. drivers brace themselves as gas jumps to $1.44

Drivers in Regina woke up to sticker shock at the gas pump after prices jumped between eight and 10 cents per litre overnight.

The price has increased at many stations to around $1.44.

“It’s a little ridiculous,” said Sean Allery, who did not expect prices to rise so quickly. “We’re paying so much for everything right now and gas is just another thing that we have to deal with.”

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Allery said he saw the price climb twice in the past week and felt the impact long before it reached the mid-$1.40 range.

“For everyday people like myself, I was feeling the pinch when it went up to $1.30,” he said. “For the everyday working person, it’s gouging us. We’re trying to just make ends meet at home, and this is just another thing that we have to battle.”

Another Regina driver, Linda, said she noticed even some of the gas stations priced on the lower end climbing in price.

“I just drove past Domo and they’re even $1.34,” she said. “It’s pretty bad when even the really lower (priced) ones are up there as well.”

Linda said the price hikes are stacking on top of other pressures families were already dealing with.

“Oh yeah,” she said when asked if Canadians were feeling the pinch. “We’ve been feeling it for a while. Groceries, like everything, is going up, and yet wages don’t.”

She worried that with global tensions continuing, higher costs could stick around.

“As long as that war is going on and we’ve got issues in the world like we have, things are just going to get worse,” she said. “In the meantime, we’re just going to be running out of money.”

Not everyone focused only on the dollars and cents. Corey Dmytriw said the jump was frustrating, but kept his reaction in perspective.

“I think there’s a lot of people that would probably rather pay higher gas prices than be living in situations (like) what’s happening in other parts of the world,” he said.

Dmytriw said he expected consumers would keep paying what they had to, even if it hurt.

“At the end of the day, as consumers, we’re going to always pay whatever we have to in order to survive and live,” he said, adding, “People’s lives are being impacted a little bit more significantly than just gas prices.”

Matt McClain, a petroleum analyst with GasBuddy, said predicted prices could reach about $1.50 a litre by the end of the week – a forecast that had some people changing their plans.

“That’s why I’m filling up today,” Linda said. “Hopefully I won’t need to fill up for a while.”

With volatility tied to global events and uncertainty about how long the conflict could last, drivers said they were bracing for the possibility that this week’s jump wouldn’t be the last.