One of my favourite events in Vancouver happened a few weeks ago – the Vancouver Mural Festival. It’s an annual celebration of art, music and community featuring neighbourhood mural tours, live painting, live music and an all-around great time. The City of Vancouver has a strong tradition of supporting public murals; artists and building owners are encouraged to collaborate on projects that can bring a community together around urban neighbourhood beautification.

In addition to beautifying urban neighbourhoods, murals have been shown to reduce crime in areas where they are painted as well as increase community ownership towards crime prevention, particularly where the community has been involved in the creation of the mural.

Petro-Canada is piloting a mural project at one of our stations in downtown Toronto. We commissioned graffiti artist, Jessey Pacho (aka Phade), to design and paint the mural.

Before Jessey took to the wall he visited the Regent Park Community Centre where he met youth from the Jimmie Simpson and John Innes Community Centres. He spent the afternoon with local budding artists teaching them about responsible street art and giving them some style tips. And a few of the youth joined Jessey on site to help with the first day of mural painting.

Over the last week, Jessey completed this new piece of art. Doesn’t it look awesome?! Jessey shared his inspiration for the piece:

The mural design is a celebration of diversity. Born from the idea that there was one specific time, during the recent playoffs, that everyone in the city - regardless of nation, creed, political views or background - was united and connected.

We’re very proud of this collaboration between Jessey, the City of Toronto and our Petro-Canada team. Being an active participant in the communities in which we operate is important and projects like this mural embody our commitment to creating a safe and dependable space in the community.

- Rose R.

2003. A particularly frosty day in Toronto. My car: running on fumes. My gloves: forgotten (beside my lunch) on the kitchen table. I had no choice. I had to pull in to my local Petro-Canada and fill up or I wouldn’t make it to work. As I filled my tank, I tried to avoid frostbite by alternating pumping hands and keeping the free one in my pocket. Oh, how I missed the locking clip on the gas nozzle.

Fast forward 16 years. The clips are back! In 2002 Canadian Fuels member companies removed the clips for safety reasons. But since the introduction of Gasoline Flow Rate Regulations (currently set at 38 litres/minute) and Onboard Fuelling Vapour Recovery technology in vehicles, those safety risks have been greatly reduced.

So, for guest convenience (and keeping hands warm!), Petro-Canada is re-introducing the locking clicks on gasoline nozzles across the country, except in Quebec where they are not legal. Stasy Presutto, Manager of Environment, Health & Safety for Petro-Canada, who is leading the implementation of the locking clips, is keen on the implementation:

“The locking clips deliver an overall positive guest experience and greatly reduce the probability of gasoline spills. In the absence of locking clips, we have seen guests insert objects (e.g. gas cap, coffee cup) into the nozzle thereby causing gasoline spills.”

Now, while the clips are very convenient, you can’t just “set it and forget it”. Site Staff will still be monitoring the dispensing of fuel and you can do your part. Stay within 7.5 metres (25 feet) of your vehicle while using the locking clip. This means you can wash your windshield or even get back in your car to stay warm. But please don’t enter the store until you have finished pumping your gas. Otherwise the attendant will, for safety reasons, halt the pump until you return.

If you have any questions about the safe use of gas nozzle locking clips (or any other safety concerns), don’t hesitate to ask the station attendant.

- Rose R.

A few weeks ago Suncor, proud owner of Petro-Canada, released its 2019 Report on Sustainability. This report details Suncor’s environmental, social, and economic performance, as well as, the company’s perspective on the challenges and opportunities of climate change, and the transition to a low-carbon economy.

Petro-Canada plays a key role in three areas:

1. Renewable Technologies
2. Partnering with Indigenous Businesses
3. Community Investment

Renewable Technologies
Petro-Canada is contributing towards a low-carbon future through the creation of Canada’s Electric Highway™, our EV fast charge network. More than 50 EV stations will be located along the Trans-Canada highway at strategically located Petro-Canada stations from Nova Scotia to British Columbia; these sites will offer DC fast chargers which support a broad selection of vehicles and can provide up to a 200 kilowatt charge – enough to provide an 80% charge to most EVs in less than 30 minutes.

Partnering with Indigenous Businesses
Petro-Canada began partnering with First Nation business owners in 1997. In 2018, four new retail sites opened, bringing the number of Petro-Canada branded retail sites owned and operated by First Nations across Canada to more than 30. One new wholesale site was also opened, for a total of nine First Nation owned or leased wholesale sites. If you missed it, you can check out an interview we did with Kukpi7 Rosanne Casimir, the Tk’emlups chief, where one of our most successful First Nations owned and operated sites is located.

Community Investment
Petro-Canada is a long-time supporter of the Olympic and Paralympic movement. Through our Fuelling Athlete and Coaching Excellence (FACE™) Program, we support promising athletes and their coaches from across Canada on their journeys to the Olympic and Paralympic Games. Since 1988, we have given $11 million in financial support to 3,000+ Canadian athletes and coaches. We also support Canadian athletes by helping their families get to see them compete. We continue to support a Canadian ticketing program that will help ensure family members have the opportunity to see their athletes compete in person at the Olympic and Paralympic Games in Tokyo in 2020.

You can read the full 2019 Report on Sustainability to learn about these initiatives as well as Suncor’s progress on additional environmental and social goals.

- Rose R.

Last week, we opened the first of over 50 sites that will make up Canada’s Electric Highway™ in Stewiacke, NS. This site is one of two sites being built in Nova Scotia; the other will be in Halifax. We were pleased to host several special guests, including Mayor Wendy Robinson and MP Bill Casey along with several electric vehicle owners and members of Next Ride.

Mayor Robinson spoke about how she was pleased that Petro-Canada has chosen Stewiacke to kick off Canada’s Electric Highway. She and the town council have been looking for ways to help Stewiacke and its residents become more sustainable, and is happy to see Petro-Canada providing leadership in this area.

MP Bill Casey addressed the importance for Canada to move forward in tangible ways to a low carbon future – supporting electric vehicles is one of those ways. The federal government was proud to support and contribute towards this initiative.

Below is a video of the launch of the site where you can view the full remarks from our guests.

And below are some photos of the event.

Thanks to everyone who came out to the event! We’ll keep you up to date as we open more sites along Canada’s Electric Highway!

- Braden H.

It’s been a few months since we announced the completion of our first electric vehicle (EV) charging stations. The EV fast chargers at our Milton, ON stations are the first in a coast-to-coast network of more than 50 stations being built this year.

These chargers offer opportunities for more than Canadian drivers. The owners and operators of the stations where the EV chargers are being installed are keen to get on board. We spoke with Mathi Valautham, the operator of the Milton station:

I was so excited when I heard that our station had been selected to have the network’s first EV fast chargers. When we first launched, we initially had four to five customers a day, but those numbers have quickly begun to multiply. It’s been a learning process for me because it’s a completely new offering for my customers, but I am eager to learn more about electric vehicles and charging because I believe this will be a part of Canada’s mobility future.

You can hear more from Mathi, as well as from the project lead and one of our technology experts, in the video below.

Have you tried out the EV charger in Milton? We’d love to hear about your experience in the comments!

- Braden H.