Greater Toronto Area would be covered by the proposed “gas and dash” law, but other cities and towns could join if they wanted to
A Progressive Conservative backbencher has proposed a law that would make it mandatory in some parts of Ontario to pay for gas before you pump it.
The MPP who put forward the bill this week said that it will not only stop “gas and dash” thefts but also make it less likely that gas station workers will be hurt or killed.
Deepak Anand, MPP for Mississauga-Milton, said, “My main goal is to save lives.” “My main goal is to make sure that police resources are used better.”
Gas theft has been going on for a long time, but when gas prices went up last year, so did the number of thefts, according to numbers from the police and the industry in Ontario.
The Ontario Convenience Stores Association estimates $3.75 million in losses from fuel thefts at service stations across the province in 2022, triple the amount from 2020.
The Ontario Convenience Stores Association estimates $3.75 million in losses from fuel thefts at service stations across the province in 2022, triple the amount from 2020.
Anand says that safety is his main goal with the bill. He talks about the deaths of gas station workers Jayesh Prajapati in Toronto and Atifeh Rad in Mississauga, who were both killed in fuel thefts just over a year apart.
The bill would make gas stations in the Greater Toronto Area require prepayment, and it would give municipalities in other parts of the province the power to adopt the law by passing a resolution of council.
Anand said, “We’re giving other cities the option to join if they think gas theft is a problem and want to solve it by making people pay ahead of time.”
The rules about having to pay in advance would be put into place gradually. For the first year, they would only apply from 9 p.m. to 6 a.m., and then they would apply all the time.
If the bill passes, Ontario would be the third province to have rules about paying before pumping. Since 2008, it has been the law in British Columbia, and since 2018, it has been the law in Alberta.
Five people died in gas-and-dash thefts in Alberta in just three years, which led the NDP government led by Rachel Notley at the time to pass the law.
WATCH | Gas theft is getting worse as prices keep going up:
The Ontario Association of Chiefs of Police (OACP) wants the government of Doug Ford to back Anand’s bill.
The OACP’s director of government relations and communications, Joe Couto, said, “We’re very worried about the resources that police need to spend on [gas thefts] and, most of all, about the safety of the people who work in these gas stations.”
Last year, 38,000 gas tanks were stolen in Ontario: MP
In an interview, Couto said, “We just can’t get back the money we spend on investigating these thefts, which is a problem when we’re trying to keep our police budgets in check.” “It keeps our officers from being able to deal with other crimes.”
Couto says that some convenience store owners are against a law that requires customers to pay in advance 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. They think that if customers have to pay in advance, less people will buy things inside the store.
He said, “We don’t think that’s a good reason.” “The safety of the community comes first here.”
Anand says that his research for the bill showed that there were about 38,000 gas thefts in Ontario last year. That’s more than 100 per day on average across the province.
He said, “When you go to Tim Horton’s, you pay for your coffee and then get your coffee.” “All we’re trying to do is make sure that when you go to the gas station, you have the same attitude as us.”
The head of the Ontario Convenience Stores Association, Dave Bryans, says the bill is a step in the right direction, but he wants pre-pay to be the law all over the province.
“It shouldn’t just be the GTA,” Bryans said in an interview. “Gas thefts happen everywhere.” “Gas-and-dash has gotten worse every year; it’s a big problem.”
The Protecting Ontarians by Improving Gas Station Safety to Stop “Gas and Dash” Act, or Bill 88, was introduced on Thursday.
It’s Anand’s second time trying to make prepayment required in Ontario. A bill he put forward in 2020 would have been the same for the whole province and was supported by groups of police chiefs and convenience store owners. But since the government decided not to push it through the process at Queen’s Park, it died when that legislative session ended.
Private member’s bills, which come from any MPP who is not in cabinet, become law in Ontario very rarely. But an MPP from the ruling party has a better chance of getting this kind of bill passed than an MPP from the opposition.
The bill would change the Occupational Health and Safety Act, making it the responsibility of gas station owners to follow the law.
In a statement to CBC News, Labour Minister Monte McNaughton said, “Every worker in our province deserves to go home safely after their shift.” He thanked Anand “for bringing attention to this important issue,” but he didn’t say if the government will back the PC MPP’s bill.