City of Brantford Council voted to support Bill 88, “Protecting Ontarians by Enhancing Gas Station Safety to Prevent Gas and Dash Act, 2023” as it relates to assisting the Brantford Police Services alleviate gas theft in the City during their Committee of the Whole, Operations meeting on Tuesday, August 6, 2024.
Bill 88 looks to amend the Occupational Health and Safety Act by preventing gas theft by requiring all gas stations to utilize prepaid services when selling fuel.
The legislation is currently forced on the GTA, however if a municipality wishes to be included, Council’s must pass a resolution requesting that the application of the act apply to their jurisdiction.
Councillor Greg Martin’s resolution states that as the Brantford Police Service (BPS) has been dealing with a large number of preventable “gas drive offs,” specifically, 206 since 2023, the BPS board requested that the City pass a resolution requesting that the act applies to Brantford as well.
“When we discussed this at the Police Services Board, it was hinted that a lot of gas stations would actually like to see this implemented and that the only reason that they don’t do a full pay-in-advance now, is because they need to be competitive with other stations,” he said. “If it becomes mandatory across the city, then there’s no reason not to have to do it but they [gas station owners] would appreciate it because it would be something that’s common right across the city. It’ll greatly reduce gas theft, and I think it’s a good thing for our community because it will take some of the pressure off the police so they can deal with other issues.”
Councillor Dan McCreary wondered if the information regarding gas station owners wanting the city to be included in Bill 88 was anecdotal or fact.
“Is there any plan to actually engage the owners and operators of gas stations to ensure that we’re on the right track with this?,” he asked.
Councillor Mandy Samwell said that this was something she could bring forward to the BPS board to get an answer for later, but in the meantime, she said she would be supporting the resolution.
“I’m pleased to be supporting this tonight,” she said. “I feel like this is very important because there’s just too many risks involved when people are pumping gas and then trying to leave without paying and the losses are very preventable.”
Councillor Gino Caputo said that while he supported the resolution, as far as the retail side of gas kiosks go, making it mandatory to pre-pay could potentially harm the sales these owners are making inside the store.
“Prepaying really eliminates the opportunity for people to buy something other than gas when they’re at a gas station. If we get into a prepay situation, it puts nobody inside the buildings which means that these owners are not going to sell anything else that’s in there,” he said.
“… In our society, every retailer has taken several measures to try to ensure that shoplifting isn’t a concern; You’ve seen it at the beer store, you’ve seen it at the liquor store, you’ve seen it everywhere. So, I want to support this completely because I think it’s an opportunity, but personally I think we need to amend some of our laws in our country. We need to probably come down and not have a catch and release situation, but when a premeditated, simple act is being done, there should be a penalty attached to it to make people think twice about it.”
Councillor Linda Hunt said that while she supported the concept, she had some concerns about Bill 88 specifically regarding the accessibility aspect of it all.
“There are certain things that are very difficult to do if you are in a wheelchair. Trying to get out of your vehicle, pay for your gas in advance, pump your gas, then get back up in your vehicle while in a wheelchair is virtually impossible,” she said. “As much as I do support the concept, I think the fact that Bill 88 is probably not looking at the Design of Public Spaces Standard which addresses the fact that self-serve kiosks need to be accessible. I do just want to put it out there that there are a whole other set of circumstances that some people need to realize from the standpoint of accessibility. If you can find a self-serve fully accessible service station, which is very rare, not everybody can just pay for their gas in advance and so going inside after is the alternative. …I’ve been able to pump my gas and go into the store and pay but I would not be able to do that under this legislation.”
Councillor Brian VanTilborg also had several concerns about Bill 88 and would not be supporting it.
“When one looks at a pump-and-go situation, there generally is no engagement with an individual with regards to health and safety because oftentimes, the people working are sitting in the kiosk inside the store,” he said. “Also, what Councillor Caputo said is actually quite true because even though thousands of people go to each gas station in a 24 hour period, the gas doesn’t make them [the owners] the money, it’s the inside sales. …I do think there needs to be more engagement with the franchise owners of those stations because there will be a revenue drop and that hasn’t been brought to the discussion”
Among other things, Van Tilborg also added that prepaying can often lead to issues for those purchasing gas in regard to their banking.
“If you don’t know how much gas you’re going to need and you put in $100 and find out you’re only using $75, I know a number of people that were shocked to find out that the money doesn’t immediately go back into their account, even though it’s not actually is taken,” he said. “It’s often held and doesn’t immediately go back into your account, and that could take as long as 24 hours, sometimes three days.”
Both Councillors Richard Carpenter and Rose Sicoli also expressed their concerns and didn’t think they should be getting involved in other people’s businesses without engaging with them first.
“While I might give it a pass today, I’m going to check with my service stations that I regularly go to and ask them if that’s something that they’ve been consulted on and if it’s something that they’re in favour of,” said Carpenter. “If I find that they’re not, then I won’t support it when it comes to the final decision at Council. The point here is this, Council has been accused of not consulting the public on a regular basis and I haven’t heard of any consultations from gas station attendants or owners in this process. We know where they are, we could certainly send them a note saying that this is what we’re intending on doing and we could survey them before August 27, because I certainly would like to know what their opinions are.”
The resolution to support the BPS board, support Bill 88 and send a copy of the resolution to the Honourable Will Bouma, MPP for Brantford Brant and the Honourable Deepak Anand, MPP for Mississauga-Malton, was then approved on a vote of 8-2, noting that Councillors Hunt and Carpenter voted no and that Mayor Kevin Davis was not present.
Kimberly De Jong’s reporting is funded by the Canadian government through its Local Journalism Initiative.The funding allows her to report rural and agricultural stories from Blandford-Blenheim and Brant County. Reach her at kimberly.dejong@brantbeacon.ca.
