Province may have known about gas supply problems in advance
by Bill Rea

Did the Province have advance warning of the recent shortages of gas at the pumps?

It did, according to a story that appeared in Friday's Globe and Mail, although Vaughan - King - Aurora MPP Greg Sorbara (Finance Minister) said other contributing factors would have reduced the government's ability to act.

The Globe reported the government was warned of the possibility of a shortage 13 months ago in a presentation made by the Canadian Independent Petroleum Marketers' Association. Officials of the Ministry of Energy were told that one disruption in the supply network could cause real problems.

There have been real problems recently, with gas prices jumping past the dollar a-litre level again, and several stations running out.

But the government is maintaining factors like the recent fire at Imperial Oil's Nanticoke refinery and the rail strike were the real culprits.

"I think we've been able to cope with it reasonably well," Sorbara commented.

He added there was really no effective way to prepare for a refinery fire. "That kind of thing is just totally unpredictable," he observed.

"My understanding is we're close to recovery," he said, adding it was heartening to see the way people coped with the problem, and controlled their anger at the soaring gas prices.

But that wasn't good enough for York North MPP Julia Munro, who said the government should have had some response to a warning like that.

"You do expect governments to be a little bit proactive when they get warnings like that," she remarked, adding gas supplies are critical in Ontario for economic viability. Part of good government is recognizing things like this are going to happen and having some strategies in place to deal with them, she maintained.