Just in from doing some last minute shopping and thought I'd post a quick update. I noticed the Petro-Canada stations I passed by in the western GTA were open and busy while there were still some other gas stations that were out of gas. For those who are just noticing that some sites are posting triple zeroes on their price signs, you can find the background here and here.

I also talked to my colleagues in Quebec this morning and it appears there are also some problems with other stations running out of gas in the Greater Montreal Area.

So I talked to my colleagues in Distribution and everything continues to be working as it should at Petro-Canada in both cities. Our fuel supplies are healthy, our distribution systems are delivering fuel to our gas stations around the clock and our stations are open and busy.  Really busy to be frank. We're seeing significant demand spikes as more and more drivers are coming to us for gasoline, likely as they continue to see other stations without gas. This is obviously unexpected and our folks in distribution are being put to the test, but they are responding well.

Hopefully this will all be resolved soon. In the meantime, happy holidays from all of us at Pump Talk.

Photo Credit: Scott Ingram

I stopped into my neighborhood Petro-Canada this morning to get gas as my van was running on empty.  As expected, the site was quite busy, with everyone in pretty good spirits as they filled their tank.  At this particular corner in Oakville, it's either Petro-Canada or Esso.

As I was paying, I asked Patel how things were going.   He said that ever since the two nearby competitor gas stations ran dry, his station has been serving way more customers than usual.  This is similar to what's been happening at a number of our gas stations over the last 24-48 hours.  The media reports from this morning help explain this temporary situation.

I received a number of media calls today regarding gas stations runing out of gasoline in the Greater Toronto Area over the last few days.  They weren't Petro-Canada gas stations, but the situation was obviously of interest to motorists who earlier this year found it difficult to find gasoline in the GTA.  Some of the early clips can be found here and here.   I was driving around this afternoon, and it didn't appear to be widespread.  But given the interest, I thought I would share what I told the reporters earlier today.

No Person shall cause or permit Idling in the Town.

That’s the message in a bylaw recently approved by this Alberta mountain town.

A peek through town council minutes shows it all started with a local resident who gathered some 540 names on a petition calling for a ban on idling.

So if you live in Jasper, it’s now uncool, and unlawful, to let you car idle while stationary unless it’s “working”.

The Quebec government recently held hearings on Bill 41, which was put forward to "increase transparency in gas pricing."    It's received some media and blog coverage.   In the spirit of transparency, I've attached below Petro-Canada's submission to the committee.   We support greater transparency when it comes to gas prices (that's why this blog exists), but believe there are better ways to help consumers that don't involve 4000 gas stations sending letters to the province every time the price changes.