Thursday, March 28, 2024

Gas purchases on Vancouver Island now limited to 30 litres per trip

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In a news conference Friday, Public Safety Minister Mike Farnworth announced that the province will be limiting gas purchases in the province in an effort to prioritize its use for essential vehicles, while also keeping it available to all British Columbians.

This limit is put in place under the powers of the Emergency Program Act and is a temporary order to ensure fuel remains available for essential vehicles in affected areas of the province.

The order, which is effective immediately until December 1st, applies to all fuel suppliers in the Lower Mainland-to-Hope region, the Sea-to-Sky region, Sunshine Coast, the Gulf Islands and Vancouver Island.

Residents in these regions will be limited to 30L per visit.

Retail gas stations and wholesale distributors will also be prohibited from profit-margin price gouging and people will be prohibited from buying gas for the purpose of reselling it.

“We are asking people to limit their fuel consumption and vehicle travel at this time and are putting in place orders under the provincial state of emergency to support this,” said Farnworth. 

“These steps will keep commercial traffic moving, stabilize our supply chains and make sure everyone gets home safely. We are asking people not to travel through severely affected areas – for their own well-being, but also to make sure the fuel we do have goes toward the services people need in this time of crisis.”

The announcement comes after recent heavy rain and flooding impacted supply and the delivery of gasoline to many areas in the province. 

Many areas across the province, including Victoria are in very short supply due to this as well as panic buyers who depleted the supply.

“If we’re greedy, we’ll fail” Farnworth said, “It’s that simple.”

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