Richard Gleeson
Northern News Services

NNSL (Sep 27/99) - They say love may make the world go 'round, but you can kiss your snowmachine all day and it won't move an inch without gas in the tank.

The same goes for trucks, boats, planes and four-wheelers. Without gas, the vast distances here become -- ummm -- way, way vaster.

But the price of a fill-up, an ever-changing thing at the best of times, can vary a lot from community to community.

For example, if they could haul enough of it to make the boat ride and drive worthwhile, residents of Wha Ti could save themselves almost 15 cents a litre if they bought their gas in Grise Fiord.

Don't start giving the people who sell gas in Wha Ti dirty looks. The government sets the price in that community and 17 others in the west.

Manager of the gas operation there, Tracy Simpson, said there's not too many complaints about price among her customers.

"I think this price has been around for a long time," she said.

So, Wha Ti, a small community where everybody knows everybody else -- surely if someone was stuck for cash you could loan them a little gas for their boat until pay day.

"No, we don't do that," said Simpson in a tone that left no room for discussion.

The Nunavut government sets the price in all but three communities -- Iqaluit, Cambridge Bay and Resolute -- where private operators decide the price.

If you had the only gas station in Resolute, and had a girlfriend and condo in the Bahamas to support, wouldn't you adopt the airline approach and consider a fair price somewhere in the neighbourhood of, say, $10 a litre?

Richard Gordon is in charge of the operation in Resolute on behalf of the Uqsuq Corp., which won the contract to supply gas to the community.

As he said, "If a plane lands up here, guess what, it's not leaving until it fuels up."

But the arrangement with Uqsuq also specifies how much profit the company can make, which means the price is pretty well set by the government.

The gas situation in Resolute is a little complicated. There's actually two places to get gas in Resolute, in town at the Co-op or out at the airport, where Uqsuq operates. The price is the same in both, 73.9 cents a litre.

The Co-op buys its gas from Uqsuq, but also has a financial interest in their Resolute fuel operation.

The only simple thing about gas in the North is that everyone needs it.