With fuel prices regularly higher in the region than in outlying areas, the Tri-Town & District Chamber of Commerce is surveying members as the first step towards coping with the problem.
“People are aware of what may be causing some of the fluctuations, but what’s uncertain is why there is such a disparity between this area and outlying areas,” says Ken Laffrenier, president.
“We had one instance a couple of months ago where there was an excess of 20 cents difference between here and North Bay, which was a little discouraging to say the least.”
By asking members about how fuel prices affect them, the Chamber is seeking to prove that there is quantifiable interest from the business community in order to spur an investigation into why the disparity exists.
Following the completion of the survey in mid-April, the chamber will conduct a series of discussions with retailers and franchises as an initial step in developing an informational network.
As efforts to seek answers from the local MP proved fruitless, various levels of government will also be eventually brought into the process.
More than 150 area businesses have responded thus far, and although the final results have yet to roll in, Laffrenier says most respondants have expressed unease and confusion in equal measure.
“The goal of the survey is essentially to communicate back to our members what the reasoning or justification is for fuel prices in Northern Ontario. We get a lot of people contacting the Chamber of Commerce, not necessarily complaining about prices, but raising concern. It’s not necessarily that retailers are taking advantage, but rather that the general public doesn’t realize what’s involved in some of the pricing.”
He says local concern has grown in recent months, as fuel prices have steadily risen far beyond the 80-cent-per-litre mark to which businesses had become accustomed.
Rather than trying to weather the storm, many local firms are instead being forced to compensate by cutting back on hours and reducing their number of employees, Laffrenier says.
“Businesses will set up a business plan for five, 10 years into the future, and if you have to change that plan, you have to drastically change the way you do business. The cost of doing business today as compared to four or five years ago, because of petroleum costs, has really gone through the roof.”
While no individual businesses could be identified due to the confidential nature of the survey, Laffrenier says that a surprising number are having their sustainability threatened by the consistently elevated fuel prices. In turn, this has reduced the amount of community support and public donations made by business – a trend which concerns Laffrenier, as such support holds together small communities such as the Tri-Towns.
“There are a number of businesses that are facing a very difficult time, and this includes a number of businesses that people wouldn’t expect. They’re really the ones that everyone figures will be around forever, and that’s not the case.
Many businesses have said, ‘That’s just the way of it, and there’s nothing we can do,’ but for quite a few, this could be a sort of do-or-die type of year.”
