OTTAWA - Statistics Canada says gasoline sales continued to rise for the third year in a row in 2011, even as the price at the pump also shot up.
The agency says gross sales of gasoline rose to 42.1 billion litres last year — a 1.5 per cent increase from 2010.
That's at the same time the average price at the pump jumped to $1.24 per litre in 2011 from $1.04 per litre the year before — an increase of 19.2 per cent.
Gross gas sales were up in all parts of the country except Nova Scotia, New Brunswick and the Northwest Territories.
Drivers in Ontario and Quebec combined for more than half the country's gross gasoline consumption in 2011, while those in Alberta made up 14.2 per cent of all gas sales.
Gas sales peaked during the busy summer driving months of July and August.
