Fuel Pump Law "Years Late, Millions Short": NDP

"Weak legislation that misses the real gas gouging hurting consumers" Martin

OTTAWA -- The government's proposed "Fairness at the Pump Act" is too little, too late and won't stop the other real gas gouging hurting consumers, New Democrats said today.

The new legislation to crack down on gas stations that overcharge customers for fuel comes after an Ottawa Citizen investigation revealed that between 1999 and 2007 government inspections of over 200,000 fuel pumps found that about five per cent of pumps delivered less fuel than what was on the pump display. One third of gas stations -- about 14,000 --had at least one faulty pump.

"Gas pump problems were exposed more than two years ago by the media and the government waited far too long to respond," said Industry critic Brian Masse (Windsor West). "The government delayed for no reason. In the meantime, millions of dollars have been stolen from Canadians under the Harper Conservatives' watch."

The NDP called years ago for all the regulations and inspections contained in this bill.

Sault MP Tony Martin said the legislation may fix a small part of the much bigger gas gouging problem northern motorists know all about.

"Yes, we should always get all the gas we pay for but really this is shallow legislation for northerners who won't be helped a dime by a bill that ignores the other gouging," Martin said. "We know too well the simultaneous rise in prices by all the gas companies, the instant increases at the pump reacting to international crisis even when there is lower-bought fuel still in the reserves, the slowness in prices falling when the price of oil falls. Let's fixed that. "