By Lisa Schick

Running on fumes

Apr 15, 2011 | 7:24 AM

Some in the country are standing up and saying “enough is enough” to soaring gas prices.

Messages have been flying around online about a proposed gas boycott on Apr. 15.

People are being encouraged to not buy gas today to try and send a message to oil companies that they will not stand for the high prices.

The idea is that if enough people participate in the boycott, the companies will lose so much money they will have to bow to the consumers.

Roger McKnight, an analyst with En-Pro International Inc., is sceptical of how well a boycott of all gas for one day will work.

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McKnight said it would be difficult to get enough people to participate to have an effect.

“Boycotts don’t work because it’s the nature of the Canadian consumer, they won’t go along with it … it’s called Canadian apathy, or consumer apathy,” McKnight said.

He said he doesn’t think something like the boycott will do anything because gas prices aren’t really set in Canada — they are set by what happens with oil in the United States and what prices are set at on Wall Street.

A more effective way to lower prices would be to boycott one supplier, and only go to others, forcing the boycotted supplier to lower their prices to recover business, McKnight said.

But he said this is tricky as sometimes it could be the person who is leasing the business taking the hit as opposed to the big oil company.

McKnight said he believes the bottom line is that boycotts don’t work, but Rick Sawa, a Prince Albert-based spokesman for the social justice group the Council of Canadians, has a different opinion.

“I think that we have a lot more power than we think we have when it comes to boycotting organizations, that we want to get the message out to that we’re not happy about how they’re doing business,” Sawa said.

While one day may not make a difference, it’s a good starting point – it could be used to measure effect and participation and then try to build on it from there, Sawa said

Besides a boycott Sawa said there are a lot of things people can do to lower their gas consumption and therefore lower how much they pay at the pumps: public transportation, walking, riding bicycles, car-pooling, not driving when you don’t have to drive, driving at a reasonable speed on the highway (the faster you go the more gas you use), among others.

“If people just cut back entirely and only used fuel when they really needed to, and were telling these companies that that’s why they’re doing it, I think it would have a difference,” Sawa said.

Gas boycotts and lowering gas consumption shouldn’t just be about lowering prices, he said.

“I think there’s a bigger issue than just driving down the price. I think it’s that we have to realize that it’s a non-renewable resource and by burning fuel we’re harming the environment. I think those are more important than driving down the cost of gas.”

There are many people, like McKnight, would say boycotts do not work, but Sawa said it’s worth a shot, because “if you don’t try something then for sure nothing will happen.”

To learn more about ways to protect and help the environment the Council of Canadians has organized a day of events for Saturday at city hall. The Earth Day celebration is a family-friendly event.

lschick@panow.com