What If Gas Prices Go Up As Predicted By Jeff Rubin?

Life in Mississauga may be changed forever after this summer if Jeff Rubin’s prediction is accurate. Jeff Rubin has predicted that fuel prices will be raised by $2.00 per litre after we exit this recession. This increase in price may sound simple enough but surely several complications will follow it. I am simply here to inform you of a few of these complications. First off, due to the increase in gas prices, we will see usage of the Mississauga transit system increase, as well as the amount of people using alternative methods of travel such as walking and biking. If this comes true then many car dealerships in the area will be hit hard even after the recession is over.  Due to soaring fuel costs many people will find that travelling south over the border for shopping trips will be more inexpensive than simply just shopping at their local mall. This issue has two factors embedded to it; firstly the increase in the cost it would take to drive down and across the border. Fortunately, this fuel cost will most probably be overcome by the weak U.S. dollar. This newly introduced second factor involves the increase in the value of the Canadian dollar relative to the U.S. dollar. As gas prices increase, the value of the Canadian dollar relative to the U.S. dollar increases as well. This occurs simply because when Canada buys oil from the U.S. they are usually paid in U.S. dollars. Unfortunately for the U.S. Canada pays its employees in Canadian dollars, therefore they seek more Canadian dollars on foreign markets. In turn, this creates more demand for Canadian dollars and increases the supply for U.S. dollars. Anyways, as a result of this need to shop away from home many retailers at home will be hard hit just like the car companies. Partly in due to the fact that shopping will be cheaper to the South, border crossings will be flooded with traffic. Another thing that will be affected in our community by this prediction is the funding of alternative methods of transportation, like electric cars, etc. The funding for such methods will surely increase seeing as the demand for them will also increase by a substantial amount. All of these things as well as many more will be affected by a simple increase in gas prices. Looking at all these affected over $2.00/litre imagine what could occur if there were an increase of $5.00? $10.00?