OTTAWA -- Industry Minister Jim Prentice on Monday ordered increased inspection of retail gas pumps across the county in response to an Ottawa Citizen investigation that found consumers were getting shortchanged by the measurement errors found in about five per cent of pumps tested.
"I've instructed that there be beefed-up inspection and beefed-up verification, that pumps are honest and accurate," Prentice said Monday.
Canadian Minister of Industry Jim Prentice announced tougher inspection of gas pumps in response to a question in the House.
"All consumers in this country need to know that when they go to gas up their vehicles that the pumps are accurate and they are getting what they paid for."
Fines for violations will be increased to $10,000 from a previous maximum of $1,000, he said, with the option of even stiffer penalties in certain cases. The new rules would shift the onus onto retailers to ensure their pumps give fair measure, he said.
Prentice said he also had instructed Measurement Canada, the agency responsible for ensuring measuring devices are accurate, to move quickly -- by the fall -- with a legislative proposal for mandatory inspections of gas pumps every two years.
Currently, there is no requirement for the government to re-inspect pumps after they are installed, although Measurement Canada conducts random inspections and will respond to complaints. The agency agreed to put the two-year inspection regime in place back in 2004, but the rules are still in development.
The Ottawa Citizen investigation used electronic records of more than 200,000 inspections and found that of the pumps that showed measurement errors, about 75 per cent were giving out less gas, not more.
Most of the errors squeezed motorists by between 0.5 and one per cent on their gas purchases, or the equivalent of 30 and 60 cents on a fill-up. But the records also showed some pumps with errors of 4.5 per cent or more -- at least $2.70 on a 50-litre tank at today's prices.
Prentice announced the tougher inspection regime in response to a question in the House of Commons from NDP Leader Jack Layton. Layton said Prentice's announcement was a good start, but said the government knew about the problem months ago and should have acted sooner.
"People have been ripped off at the pump. It's about time they took action."
Layton called on the government to establish a gas ombudsman to protect consumers from the rising costs of fuel, but Prentice said that wasn't going to happen.
Earlier in the day, Measurement Canada president Alan Johnston wrote letters to the editors of the Ottawa Citizen and National Post over the reports of pump measurement errors.
The failure rate for fuel pumps in 2007 was three per cent, better than the five per cent figure that covered a longer period dating back to 1999, he said.
Prentice met with Johnston Monday, then followed up with a letter telling him to put an increased inspection regime in place for the summer driving season and to inform gas retailers that their full co-operation was expected.
-- Canwest News Service
PREVIOUS
