When the last gas station closed at Mary’s Harbor, on the southeast coast of Labrador, in March 2021, residents began filling up with gas stations in nearby Lodge Bay. Then last summer, the station closed, leaving only one day a week to sell the rest of its stock, which lasted until about October. Since then, the nearest gas station has been in Port Hope Simpson – a 100-kilometer round trip. And as fuel prices began to rise in recent months, an inconvenience that was mostly merely frustrating quickly became costly as well. Hughie Holley, a resident of Mary’s Harbor, told CBC News that he makes the trip to refuel his truck two or three times a week. The price of gas in the region was $ 2.39 per liter as of Monday afternoon. Residents of Lodge Bay and Mary’s Harbor had to drive more than 50 miles to Port Hope Simpson from October just to get gas. (Google Maps) “It costs you money to go get gas. It’s quite expensive now,” Holley said. “It’s very gloomy. I guess that’s all you can do; if it goes up, it goes up. It depends on the Utilities Council. “Along with food and fuel prices, you have to give up one of them. You can not starve.”
‘It does not look good’
Mary’s Harbor Mayor Alton Rambolt said the whole community is frustrated that they need to burn so much gas just to buy more gas, especially at record prices. Hughie Holley from Mary’s Harbor travels to Port Hope Simpson twice a week to fill his truck. (Danny Arsenault / CBC) “It’s a martyrdom. It’s a real pain,” Rambolt said. “The fishing season is here now and that makes it a lot more frustrating because we spend a lot of gas in the cod in the summer and things like that.” Rumbolt said Mary’s Harbor is passing but the situation is difficult. Someone who operated a gas station in the city was close to reopening but withdrew due to a lack of staff, he said. He hopes someone else will fill the gap and open his own station, adding that the city council will support the project. “We had a lot of meetings about it, we met different … people we thought were interested,” Rambolt said. “We even talked about the city getting gas on its own, but the municipality is part of it, we have to be careful with what we do. They would rather stay away from it because we can only do what we can do in law. about municipalities “. Rambolt said it would be much easier for the city if someone else opened a small station. “It does not look so good right now,” he said. “We just hope the best one can come and help in some way to get this gas station.” Read more from CBC Newfoundland and Labrador
