Pain at the pumps as gas prices expected to jump over the weekend

Motorists feel the pain at the pumps with the price of regular gas nearly tripling since the start of the pandemic, with another jump expected this weekend.

"You're going to see another five-cent increase, likely on Sunday, so that pushes us up to about 2.07," said gas price analyst Dan McTeague.

Two years ago, gas dipped to roughly 70-cents a litre for regular, and has since shot up to record numbers, frustrating many on the road.

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"The beginning of the pandemic, I remember it went down to 70, 68 cents. What's going on right now that all of a sudden we have to pay for it?" asked Wasaga Beach Sia Sadri.

"This is money away from my children. I'm spending the weekend with my daughter right now. Between gas and food, something's got to give," he added.

"It's very, very hard and difficult to make ends meet with everything going up like food, gas, everything right now. It is just hard to live on a wage that I have now," said Tottenham resident David Martin.

"Everything is going up, and today's governments have got to step in and help us out," said Don Vansnick as he filled up in Cookstown.

McTeague, president of Canadians for Affordable Energy, agreed.

"Think about it, this time last year, gasoline was about 80 cents cheaper. You add five, 15 or 13 per cent to that. That's billions of dollars in windfall revenue that the governments never anticipated. Perhaps they should contemplate giving that back."

McTeague believes that unless something dramatic changes in the coming weeks and months, prices at the pumps could spiral, hitting $2.15 to $2.20 a litre by summer.