Yesterday, Industry Minister Tony Clement announced that Senate passed legislation designed to protect Canadian consumers from inaccurate measurement at gas pumps and other such measurement devices.
Canadians can now rest assured that when they spend their hard-earned dollars, they are getting a fair deal. They deserve to get what they pay for—and no less. The Fairness at the Pumps Act is a strong deterrent to those who, either through malicious intent or carelessness, sell goods without accurate measurement.
It seems to me that consumers deserve similar protections when purchasing anything that can’t easily be counted. When I buy a handful of pencils, I can count them. But not everything is as easy to verify. There are rules in place that provide penalties for faulty weights on our food items, but are consumers sufficiently protected against faulty measurements?
A few years ago, I ordered what was supposed to be a 6 ounce glass of wine at The Boathouse in Muskoka. When a shot of wine was served to me, I thought that maybe I misunderstood – maybe the menu meant a 6 ounce glass with one ounce of wine. I haven’t gone back.
Bell Canada had a problem with its billing engine for internet usage which has apparently been fixed.
When we are paying for units of anything, water, electricity, gigabytes or glasses of wine, don’t we all deserve to be confident that we are getting what we pay for?