Gas prices - who's kidding whom?

While the cost of regular unleaded fuel in Britain remains around £1.30 ($2.00) a litre, here on Gabriola it's been steady for the past few weeks at $1.26 a litre - typically 1 cent a litre more than Nanaimo prices. 

In fact, gas prices across the whole of Vancouver Island appear suspiciously "fixed"  at this level, other than in Victoria where regular unleaded costs around 4 cents a litre more, reflecting local taxation.


So how is it that - according to GasBuddy.com - regular gas is on sale in Courtenay for less than $1 a litre?

At first I thought it must be a misprint, but it's remained steady around 99.4 cents a litre for a couple of weeks now.  If Superstore, Costco and Petro-Canada can sell gas at under $1 a litre in Courtenay, why are we paying 25% more in Nanaimo?