Announcement of Introduction of Proposed Fairness at the Pumps Act

Speaking Points

The Honourable Tony Clement, PC, MP
Minister of Industry

Port Coquitlam, British Columbia
April 15, 2010

Check Against Delivery

Good morning and thank you for coming.

It is estimated that, each year, Canadian consumers receive millions of dollars less than what they pay for at the gas pumps as a result of inaccurate measurement.

Especially at a time when family budgets are still spread thin, our government finds this completely unacceptable.

That’s why we are taking concrete action to protect consumers from paying more than they should at the gas station and other places where goods are measured.

I am pleased to announce that our government has today introduced measures to ensure fairness at the gas pumps for Canadian consumers.

The proposed Fairness at the Pumps Act would make retailers more accountable for the accuracy of their pumps and other measuring devices.

The new act would ensure that more gas pumps are checked for accuracy on a more regular basis.

For example, across Canada, 8000 gas pumps were inspected in 2007. With these amendments, that number would rise to approximately 65 000.

The new act also introduces mandatory device inspections at set intervals to bring Canada in line with international practices.

And we would allow non-government inspectors to carry out the new mandatory inspection requirements. This would offer the added bonus of providing new or expanded business opportunities for private inspectors.

Businesses would work with these independent inspectors to ensure that their gas pumps are measuring accurately. The onus would be on businesses to have the equipment repaired and re‑inspected within a limited time frame.

As well, the proposed act would bring in court-imposed fines of up to $10 000 for minor offences and up to $50 000 for repeat offences, in addition to a formal penalties system to back up these fines.

These measures would act as a strong deterrent to those who, through carelessness or malicious intent, are selling inaccurately measured gasoline or other goods.

Because when Canadians pull into a station to gas up, they want to know that what’s on the pump is what’s in the tank.

Today’s changes would also affect other types of measurement devices in sectors such as retail food, logging, mining and fishing.

With the introduction of private inspectors, the resources of Measurement Canada would be freed up to play an oversight role in responding to complaints, performing random inspections and taking enforcement actions.

The Fairness at the Pumps Act sends a clear message — if businesses don’t do their part to ensure measurement accuracy, they will be held to account.

The act is yet another demonstration of our government’s commitment to protecting Canadian consumers.

This commitment is clear in other recent actions we have taken, including:

• strengthening the guidelines for “Product of Canada” labelling;
• planning to reintroduce legislation to protect Canadian families from unsafe food, drug and consumer products; and
• continuing to work on a code of conduct for the credit and debit card industry in Canada.

In these and so many other ways, the Government of Canada is working on behalf of Canadian consumers.

Because we believe that when Canadians decide to spend some of their hard-earned money, they deserve to know what they are getting, and to get what they pay for.

Thank you.