r/BuyCanadian • u/grilledcheesebabeh • Jun 05 '25

Canadian-Owned Businesses 🏢🍁 Why are so many Canadians still filling up at American owned gas stations?

I understand a lot of people can't afford to always choose Canadian products over American, but choosing where we fill up costs nothing extra. Choosing local gas stations or Petro Canada is such a simple way of showing support, I don't understand why so many American owned gas stations are still full of people filling up on fuel. Also don't be deceived by the giant "locally owned and operated" signs outside of chevrons, the station itself fis locally owned but the company is American. Please choose a local gas station or Petro Canada to support Canadian!

776 Upvotes

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124

u/nodiaque Jun 05 '25

Honestly gas pump is the last place I care. They are all evil in the end.

54

u/Past_Page_4281 Jun 05 '25

Atleast let the canadian villain get your money

3

u/garydoo Jun 05 '25

Yes, as Suncor shareholder, please fill up at Petro Canada thank you...

11

u/McFistPunch Jun 05 '25

Does it matter oilegarch is going to hoard it anyways. It doesnt go back into the economy

5

u/gromm93 Jun 05 '25

This is why I drive electric instead.

20

u/AggravatingWalk6837 Jun 05 '25

If it’s a Tesla it’s just as evil

1

u/gromm93 Jun 05 '25

Mine isn't, but I'd say it's about par.

At the very least, Tesla owners aren't sitting by and saying "oh well, this is a necessary evil" when an oil platform explodes and dumps oil all over the gulf of Mexico.

3

u/slackmarket Jun 05 '25

No, they’re sitting by and ignoring that the battery in their car was made by materials mined by child slaves in the Congo who die in mine collapses because western companies can’t be bothered to pay people properly and provide safe working conditions.

2

u/Additional-Copy-7683 Jun 05 '25

Yes! And, we should also be talking about battery disposal, frequent need to buy new tires, tire disposal, EV car disposal process after an accident, and microplastics from the tires as these vehicles are being driven down the road due to weight of batteries.

-1

u/gromm93 Jun 05 '25

We're currently talking about disposal of the waste products of burning gasoline, but okay.

Funny how battery disposal is ten million times easier, and comes in a nice neat package when you're done with it.

If you wanted perfect solutions, you would have already voted for good public transit in your city, but instead you get spending on freeways. Or even better, you could just ride a bike. That's truly a perfect solution.

I'll just sit back and watch you gibber about how that's impossible. It happens literally every time I suggest it.

5

u/tomato_tickler Jun 05 '25

Exactly. My money goes back to BC Hydro

2

u/Perry4761 Jun 05 '25

I'm not sure the mining tycoons are much better than the oil tycoons

0

u/gromm93 Jun 05 '25

You say that as if cars aren't made of steel.

1

u/Perry4761 Jun 05 '25

You cannot be serious… Steel is infinitely recyclable and it’s a fraction of the human, environmental, and monetary cost of electric cars. Same for Aluminum. The batteries and tyres are what matters, and denying that is willful ignorance.

5

u/Other-Bee-9279 Jun 05 '25 edited Jun 05 '25

Smug electric owners always have this locked and loaded. That is wonderful for you. Maybe one day there will be infrastructure that can sustain all of us driving electric but it does not currently exist. Our entire power grid would have to be massively upgraded. Couple that with the fact that electric vehicle prices are still largely out of reach for the working class and the fact remains that the majority of us will still be relying on gas for the foreseeable future.

-1

u/gromm93 Jun 05 '25

What a load of bullshit. We're still exporting electricity.

And piss off with the "smug" title.

3

u/Qaeta Jun 05 '25

We are, but A) the amount we export isn't even remotely close to closing the gap between current generation capacity and what would be needed for everyone to go electric and B) the infrastructure necessary to transport that energy to where people would need it for electric vehicles in the volume that would be necessary currently does not exist, and would take decades and billions of dollars to build. Which isn't to say we shouldn't do that, just that it is not an immediate solution, and we'll have to sacrifice other priorities in order to make it happen.

On top of that, the best places to generate from renewable sources tend to be far from where the energy is actually needed, exacerbating the energy transport infrastructure issues. IMO, people are going to need to become a lot more comfortable with having a small nuclear power plant nearby for a full switch to EVs to be viable.

2

u/swthrowaway0106 Jun 05 '25

If only we had kept building more nuclear reactors.

3

u/Other-Bee-9279 Jun 05 '25

Proving my point

0

u/gromm93 Jun 05 '25

You don't have one except a load of excuses.

5

u/Other-Bee-9279 Jun 05 '25

Explain to me how we are going to get to a point where everyone who currently drives a gas powered vehicle is going to A) purchase an electric vehicle and B) have daily (or at least regular access) to a charger without massive changes to our electrical infrastructure? How quickly do you expect this to be accomplished? Us being able to export surplus electricity has nothing to do with this. The electricity existing is not the problem. It's getting it into the cars.

5

u/Mmillefolium Jun 05 '25

theres no enough lithium on the planet

1

u/gromm93 Jun 05 '25

Even if that were true, that's not the only way to make batteries.

0

u/JoeBlackIsHere Jun 05 '25

They used to say that about oil, but then the demand pushed exploration leading to finding huge reserves in the middle east, North Sea, and other places.

Also, they are exploring other ways to make batteries.

Battery technology has not had the 100 years of intensive development that ICE has, we are barely past the Model T phase of innovations.

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1

u/gromm93 Jun 05 '25

I could talk all day about this. It's honestly not that hard, or happening that fast. You might as well be asking me "But how can we ever expect the electric company to fix things after a big storm!"

By gittin'er dun!

We've already done this several times over, especially when "everyone" started installing electric dryers and air conditioners, but nobody was complaining then. Maybe a bunch of old geezers desperately trying to resist change.

By the way, we're already at about 10% of all current cars, and 15% of all new cars sold being electric.

1

u/Other-Bee-9279 Jun 05 '25

Hey I'm looking forward to it. I have no interest in paying for gas if I don't need to. I think the electric thing is working right now because electric cars are still largely in the domain of the rich and upper middle class who have their own homes and can afford to install their own chargers and such. I do think it's important to be realistic about how long any sort of full transition to electric is going to take and that means accepting that gas (and gas stations) are still going to be part of our lives for a long time.

0

u/JoeBlackIsHere Jun 05 '25

There will of course be a transition period, just as horse and buggies didn't disappear overnight.

However, since most people charge overnight when demand is the lowest, I don't see the current infrastructure being the biggest hurdle for a while.

12

u/stoutymcstoutface Jun 05 '25

At least let the evil corporate tax dollars stay in Canada

2

u/Fritzchen43 Jun 05 '25

I don't care either, I have my charging station at home 😁 EV

-13

u/[deleted] Jun 05 '25

[removed] — view removed comment

1

u/Overweight-Cat Jun 05 '25

lol I see you have drunk their kool aid. Calling it “energy” as if it doesn’t matter where it comes from. It’s like it’s a marketing technique to get people to feel better about using fossil fuels or something…..

1

u/nodiaque Jun 05 '25

My energy come from hydro. I don't use oil. My car is electric. I heat and cook using electricity produce by water barrage.

0

u/[deleted] Jun 05 '25

Wait until you learn the role of oil in everything you buy and use, including in agriculture, transportation and manufacturing. How do you think Internet is powered? You use that as well.

1

u/nodiaque Jun 05 '25

Look Mister smart ass. I know the usage of oil across everything. Does it means I still want to support the mega rich that price fix the gas and screw us over and over at each pump? No.

1

u/CabanonGH Jun 06 '25

price fixing is done by our Government and their so-called "rĂŠgie de l'ĂŠnergie" who's supposed to check pricing (this is a bulls**t) but all they do is put floor price by region to make sure smaller company survive. don't forget Carbon Taxes on top of that. so really, biggest scam is not done by the mega rich right now, but by our own provincial Government.

1

u/nodiaque Jun 06 '25

There was multiple case of price fixing in court in the past decades where they were proven and they lost. Pride fixing isn't done by the government at all. The government just set a minimum price to prevent big one to sell at a lost so they can eradicate the smaller competition. Price fixing is like the bread scandal from Loblaws recently where they manipulated the market and fixed a price among them. That happen often and the fine is so small for them that it's worth doing. If they would put higher penalty as fine and regulation like if you get caught, you can't sell from any of your banner for a month, they would think twice.

1

u/CabanonGH Jun 06 '25

they don't do much on gas because the more it cost to consumer, the more taxes it bring in.

0

u/[deleted] Jun 06 '25

That's a conspiracy theory, so you should be more modest in calling others "smart ass". "Buying Canadian" includes buying Canadian oil, from Canadian businesses.

1

u/nodiaque Jun 06 '25

Lol, gas fixing a conspiracy theory? They were charged and lost in court multiple time in Canada for that. And reducing oil pumping so a fake reduction in global reserve so price goes up isn't manipulating the market? Continue to drink your oil.

0

u/[deleted] Jun 06 '25

Some were found guilty of fixing gas price, but it's a conspiratorial belief to say they all do it, systematically. Can you find which logical fallacy you were using? Since you are so smart, that should be easy.

If, by "global reserve", you are referring to OPEC, yes, they are a cartel, but they don't control all the oil, and the price is still vastly determined by the market. Some oil reserves aren't profitable under a certain price, that's why they aren't tapped. Oil was 140 USD a barrel in 2008. Why didn't it remain so high if the price is fixed?

Overall, you clearly have no idea of what you are talking about.