4 -— Wednesday, October 4, 1989 - North Shore News HERE’S A not-very-funny litéle story I ran across recently. I was contacted by a Deep Throat-type source who shall, of course, remain anonymous. He showed me documents clear- ly indicating that 2,500 litres of regular leaded gasoline had been transferred at one Petro Canada service station to a Maximurm-Plus k.. The stuff was then sold as gas. The location of the station and the date that this incident occurred must almost remain unmentioned, to protect my source. Maximum-Plus, as I’m sure everyone knows, is billed as being unleaded. - So I phoned up a PR man for Petro-Canada and told him about the allegation. He denied it angri- ly. Petro-Canada would never do a thing like that, he told me in a tone of voice that suggested I was a scumbag for even thinking such 2 thought. Since my source couldn’ step forward, that was that — until I began talking to various service station operators, all of whom agreed that in fact it was quite im- possible to get the last 500 litres of sludge out of the bottom of old regular gas tanks. Regardless of what new brand’ names are printed on the spanking new pumps being erected above the old tanks, at least that much lead- ed gas must remain in the mix, they told me. Se I got back to the Petro- Canada PR man, a chap named Bill Simpkins, and asked him about this. He was again irritated and contemptuous of my ig- norance. But he would check it out. The third call elicited a conces- sion. Yes, he admitted, there was always some gasoline left at the bottom of the tanks, but Petro- Canada had an ‘‘arithmetical for- Port Corp., unions settle THE VANCOUVER Port Cer- poration (VPC) and Local 517 of the International Longshoremen’s and Warehousemen’s Union (GL- WU) have ratified a new three-year collective agreement. The deal gives employees wage increases of $1.10 per hour in the first year, $1.05 per hour in the se- cond, and an additional 5.5 per cent overall increase in the third. The contract, which runs from June 1, 1988 to May 31, 1991, is similar to those agreed to recently by other ILWU !ocals. Said port manager Francis MacNaughton, ‘In the end, we achieved a fair deal without out- side intervention. News of this set- tlement will be received very posi- tively by our customers — both here in Canada and abroad.”” HOME! CARE ; CARING EXPERIENCED * RNs ’ * LPNs & Aldes % Homemakers *& Live-ins 24 HOURS A DAY PIEDOX 987-0881 | SERVICES” mula’’ for diluting the remaining regular gas in the new unleaded gas so that it met ‘‘acceptable gov- This was part of a ‘‘lead phase- out.”’ Ah so. And what were these “acceptable government limits’’? To my surprise, Mr. Simpkins said that they were .29 grams per litre of leaded gasoline in the unleaded gasoline. He hastened to add that this was ‘‘only one- twelfth’’ as much as the present al- lowable limit. This amounted to only a “trace’’ of lead, compared with the bad old days. Moreover, the W. are being duped by a Crown corporation that preaches environmental chastity, but continues to deliver the dirt.°’ Crown corporation was moving to switch to ‘‘unleaded gas”’ well ahead of the December 1990, deadline set by the federal gov- ermmment. Why was I harping on the nega- tive? Why not do a story about how wonderful Petro-Canada was making the switch well ahead of the deadline? When I suggested that advertis- ing gasoline as being unleaded when, in fact, there was still lead in it, was an odd thing for a gov- ernment-owned corporation to be doing, he got angry again. When I told him I was going to go ahead with a story about it, and I'd like someone from Petro- Canada to answer questions, he snapped: ‘‘We don’t think it’s a story, so we're going to exercise our prerogative to refuse to com- ment on it.” This was a prerogative I didn’t know a government-owned Crown corporation was supposed to have except in a totalitarian state. However, since Mr. Simpkins insisted on exercising his prerogative to refuse to answer, I’Il exercise my prerogative to blab anyway. Furthermore, I don’t think a Crown corporation has a prerogative to advertise fuel as be- ing unleaded when there is lead in it, regardless of how small the amount. Lead is lead is lead. You can’t be a little bit pregnant. This comes perilously close to false and misleading advertising, if you ask me. By rights, the ads for Maximum-Plus should say: ‘‘Near- ly Unleaded’’ rather than “Unileaded.”” There are two serious problems involved in this, beyond corporate Crown duplicity. Lead is one of the biggest fac- tors in urban smog, which in turn is one of the biggest factors in the deteriorating health of city cwellers in the industrialized world. In addition, there is the fact that most cars nowadays have catalytic converters, which convert exhaust to water. Lead destroys their abili- ty to do this. These devices cost from $500 to $800. What kind of damage is being done to catalytic converters in the vehicles of Petro-Canada custom- ers? This is a question customers might want to ask the next time they pull up to a Petro-Canada service station. Finally, there is the most cruel twist of all: thanks to government taxes, unleaded gas is costlier than leaded gas was. So we are paying more ‘‘to get the lead out,’” except that the lead isn’t quite out. We are being duped by a Crown corporation that preaches en- vironmental chastity, but continues to deliver the dirt. If Pat Carney was still the Minister of Energy, with responsi- bility for Petro-Canada, she would have thrown a fit about a scam like this. At the moment, the federal minister is Jake Epp. I worder whether he cares a damn@ Retirement Income Options Seminar e Demystify the “RRSP — Retirement Option” rules es Maximize retirement income a Minimize the tax bite s Maximize capital to your estate Please circle this date and your choice of time in your calendar: Wednesday, October 11, 1989 2:00 p.m. and 7:00 p.m. The River Room PARK ROYAL HOTEL 540 Clyde Avenue West Vancouver, B.C. P.S. There is no fee. However, pre-registration is required. Call Lynne at 688-7208 to register. ZLOTNIK, LAMB & SCARRATT Annuity and R.R.LE. Brokers 1666 Park Place, 666 Burrard Street Vancouver, B.C. V6C 2X8 (604) 688-7208 = Toll Free Line 1-800-663-3171 THE CORPORATION OF THE CITY OF NORTH VANCOUVER NOTICE OF PUBLIC MEETING The public is invited to attend a meeting on: TUESDAY, OCTOBER 10, 1989 at 7:30 p.m. in the Council Chamber, City Hall 141 West 14th Street North Vancouver, B.C. with respect to View and Height Regulation amendments to the Official! Community Plan as a result of the View Study for Lower Lonsdaie, Victoria Park and Centra! Lonsdale. giephanie Childrens Fashion Centre Park Royal South 926-5616 |