Francis Plourde

Like most of my fellow J-Schoolers, and like an important part of the population living in urban areas, I don’t own a car.

As a result, I couldn’t care less about the price of gas. Except when I’m renting a car.

It’s exactly what I and two colleagues did last week, when we went to Kimberley, a small town in south eastern BC, for a radio project.

Some rough thoughts about the experience:

1. All along Washington State and BC, you can find fuelling stations with notices that your gas might be mixed with approximately 10 per cent ethanol. I emphasize the word “might” here, as we are not completely sure that there is indeed ethanol in the gas purchased. It sounds like an advisory against traces of nuts in chocolate bars. The only difference is that I’ve never heard about allergies to ethanol. The other one is that people like me feel better about driving a car when the read that advisory. Be it true or not.

2. I had never driven a Ford Focus before. But I was impressed by the efficiency of the car. I should perhaps mention that the cars I drove prior to that were a Tempest and an Impala.

3. And yes, the price of gas is cheaper in the US. It’s also cheaper in the countryside than in Vancouver.

I’d like to stress that BC is a strange province indeed. Most of the population lives in Vancouver and in Victoria, and is concerned about the environment. The rest of the province is all about wilderness, but making a living by exploiting natural resources.