Gas is more than hot air

Jan 09, 2008

It has been said that money makes the world go round, but soon, after 7 p.m. in Burk’s Falls that won’t be true.

If the ol’ fuel needle dips down a little too close to the never-elusive-enough ‘E’ money won’t help you get the wheels turning again until sun-up comes around.

Pretty soon there will only be one place to fill up in the Burk’s Falls area. Very odd considering that little more than a couple of decades ago one could rhyme off at least a dozen different gassing holes within a five kilometre radius of the village.

Now it’s down to one reluctant owner tucked in off the highway to quench the area’s thirst.

How did this happen?

Well the latest technology that means there is no longer a V8 under every hood could have something to do with this. But direct blame can be laid at the feet of the Ministry of Transportation (MTO) and the manner in which four-laning has pushed through this area.

The latest victim is Berriedale Petro Canada that, in some people’s minds – including owner Evan Langford’s – is being shut down prematurely to make way for tarmac progress.

Before him fell the station just south of Burk’s Falls on Hwy 11 that is now long paved over, before that . . .

You get the picture.

As the stations closed, none rose up to replace them.

This is a symptom of something gone wrong with the four-laning process and not necessarily recently.

After years of political dithering, construction didn’t hit high-gear until the year 2000. The process to start the four-laning began in the early 1980s.

So now all of a sudden the push is on to build the road to let people travel here and beyond yet everything has been closed, leaving nowhere to get even a pint of gasoline.

A four-laned highway isn’t of much use if you can’t get gas to drive on it.

Imagine the young Toronto couple cruising up the four-laned highway from somewhere down in the GTA abyss. They suddenly come to the realization, after 8 p.m. and north of Huntsville, that they need fuel.

Can’t you hear them say, “No problem, this is a four-lane highway we’ll just pull over at the next exit and fill up.”

Imagine their consternation when that station proves to be more than 65 kilometres away.

But gas isn’t just for cars and trucks. Almaguin is a place that sells itself as a winter playground. Only thing is that it is a playground with a curfew. Snowmobilers who enjoy taking to the trails for a midnight run already regularly limit where they get to. In Burk’s Falls that problem has been compounded.

Service stations earn their name because delivering fuel is an essential service. And while it may be a strange time to stand up for service centre owners with gasoline sitting well above the dollar-a-litre mark, the soon to be shut down Berriedale Petro Canada makes the case all by itself.

Armour reeve Bob MacPhail makes the point that all of his area’s eggs will soon be in one basket. In the event of an emergency, fire, ambulance and police will either have to leave, if they can, to fill up or hope that the last station in town is still operating. Double the stations would mean double the chances one would be open to keep those essential engines running.

The simplest solution to these and other problems (“I’m sorry I got your daughter home late sir. I ran out of gas.”) is to give Petro Canada a brief reprieve.

Officials at MTO say they want to get in there to start environmental assessments and do any clean up necessary to rehabilitate the site. Understandable.

But surely a bit more consternation to a few engineers and contractors just ahead of the four-laning tender being let is preferable to the inconvenience and potential risk Burk’s Falls area visitors and residents may soon be facing.

The ministry says its primary concern is the safety of motorists. Letting a proven oasis stay open would be a good way to carry out that mandate.