VICTORIA - British Columbia's minister of labour wants other provinces to adopt their own version of Grant's Law, a proposed regulation that would require mandatory pre-payment at some gas stations.
While not technically a law, the pending provincial labour regulation was symbolically named after Grant DePatie, a young gas station employee who died while trying to stop a "gas and dash" robbery in Maple Ridge, B.C., in 2005.
Olga Ilich made her pitch for a pre-payment regulation this month in Fredericton at a meeting of her federal and provincial counterparts.
"These are politicians you're talking to so I said, 'Well (the proposal has) been well received by mothers,' " she said.
"It's been well-received by the female vote because they can identify with having a young person going off to work. Mothers are always fearful that something will happen to their children."
The proposed change is being discussed at a series of public hearings in British Columbia and is expected to be phased in starting this spring.
The original idea was to have the regulations cover the hours between 10 p.m. and 6 a.m. at gas stations in urban areas. But Ilich said the public had strong ideas on the subject.
"People are quite keen to see this happening 24-7, right across the province," she said. "The consumers have said it's a small thing to do if it's going to protect workers. It's been very well-received."
Ilich said Yukon and Quebec expressed the most interest in the idea.
In January 2006, 17-year-old Brigitte Serre was found slain in a back room of the Montreal gas station where she was working her first solo overnight shift.
