Jennifer McPhee
Northern News Services

Nunavut (May 20/02) - Those affected by Nunavut's inferior gas will receive compensation, Finance Minister Kelvin Ng announced last week.

Nobody's saying who will fork out -- but the tab is growing steadily -- especially since bad gas is also damaging automobiles.

David Boone, service and parts manager at J&G Automotive in Iqaluit, said the now-notorious gummy residue "is showing up in the majority of customer's cars."

It's clogging fuel systems and breaking pumps. In some cases, it's causing serious damage to engines and costing customers big bucks.

He said the damage "is more pronounced in vehicles that do a lot more idling."

Boone thinks the damage will continue to show up over the next year.

"It will drag on," he said.

In the meantime, Boone recommends running injector cleaner in the engine, changing oil and fuel filters and running a litre of diesel fuel with every tank of bad gas.

Co-owner of Iqaluit's Pai Taxi, Nelson Soucy, said the sticky molasses-like residue is clogging up taxi engines.

"The cars are running like shit," he said.

Boone also worries the worst damage is yet to come.

"We don't know -- maybe it will blow our engines, said Soucy. "A big can of worms will open a little later."

"What kind of collective agreement will we have to get our money back?"

MLAs, now sitting in Legislature, continue to demand answers from Public Works Minister Peter Kattuk.

"It's not just snowmobiles and outboard motors we need to think about," said Iqaluit Centre MLA Hunter Tootoo. "It's every piece of machinery that uses gasoline."

Tootoo said the GN should "look at reducing the price of gasoline in effected regions because we're paying for what we're not getting."

Glenn Williams, Iqaluit city councillor and owner of Tukturjuk Outfitting, agrees.

Williams no longer has confidence in the government's ability to bring in quality gas, especially since initial tests deemed the product acceptable.

He said the government is charging a lot for the cheapest gas it could find -- and wonders if prices will climb when new gas is brought in.

"I'm seriously contemplating buying my own," he said.

As for solving the immediate problem of bad gas, Kattuk said researchers are looking into blending the bad gas with other gas.

The GN is also negotiating with the supplier, NTCL.