Province resisting push to adopt pre-pay at pumps

B.C. the only province to legislate practice despite rash of gas-and-dash incidents

Alberta’s failure to mandate prepayment at service stations to prevent dangerous gas-and-dash incidents has left a labour leader puzzled.

B.C. remains the only Canadian jurisdiction to legislate the practise, even after the 2015 death of Calgary attendant Maryam Rashidi, who was killed trying to stop a gasoline thief, and the serious injury last month in a similar incident in Sherwood Park.

The province has been in consultations with union and industry groups targeting retail workers’ safety, but there’s no pump pre-pay legislation on the horizon, Alberta Labour spokesman Trent Bancarz said.

“We certainly have had a number of those types of incidents in gas stations,” Bancarz said. “We’ve been speaking to labour groups and employers to keep people safer.”

The time is now to bring in legislation that has dramatically reduced the number of gas and dash crimes in B.C. since it was enacted in 2008, Alberta Federation of Labour president Gil McGowan said.

“I seriously don’t understand why the Alberta government is dragging its feet,” said McGowan, who has taken part in the consultations. “There are certainly some very vocal groups lobbying against this legislation but I still don’t understand how they can justify their position.”

He said it would involve a lowcost change to service station pumps while saving lives and preventing injury.

“It’d also save money by putting an end to gas-and-dashes, period,” McGowan said.

The AFL is also hoping to see training of gas station attendants to make them aware that under provincial law, their salary can’t be docked when customers drive off without paying.

“Some employers are leading their employees to believe it is,” he said.

Certain service stations, notably Husky in some parts of the province, have voluntarily adopted the pre-payment model, said Brian Ahearn, a vice-president with the Canadian Fuels Association, which represents the mainly independent gasoline vendors.

He wouldn’t say if the association supports the pre-pay legislation but said the B.C. experience “went well ... we’ve had some good practical experience in B.C.”

Alberta gasoline vendors, he said, are still weighing the issues of risk at their businesses and reviewing things such as gas station design and informing attendants of their rights in case of theft.

But if such legislation proceeds, “we’re interested in working with them to implement it properly.”

Ahearn said he wasn’t certain how much it would cost an operator to alter the credit card mechanisms on gas pumps to ensure prepayment.

But he said mandating it would level the playing field by ensuring everyone followed the same rules.

The stakeholder consultations are also considering other retail safeguards, such as mandating convenience store attendants are accompanied at night or are protected by a barrier.

Following Rashidi’s death, the Alberta Association of Chiefs of Police urged the province to adopt the B.C.-style legislation.

I seriously don’t understand why the Alberta government is dragging its feet