On today’s date in 1985, Petro-Canada acquired 1,800 Gulf Canada stations in Ontario and Québec to become Canada’s largest service station owner.
Then a government-owned Crown corporation, Petro-Canada “completed its first major acquisition under the eye of a Conservative government,” according to a story published by the Winnipeg Free Press the following day.
The move gave Petro-Canada a “nationwide network of marketing outlets, which represented a major rehabilitation of its distribution network,” according to the 1997 book, Oil, the State, and Federalism: The Rise and Demise of Petro-Canada as a Statist Impulse, by John Erik Fossum.
The 2000 Petro-Canada issue is available in panes of 12 stamps.
2000 PETRO-CANADA STAMP
On Sept. 13, 2000, Canada Post issued a 46-cent stamp (Scott #1867) in celebration of Petro-Canada’s 25th anniversary.
Designed by Dennis L’Allier and with an illustration by Raymond Gendron, the stamp was printed by the Canadian Bank Note Company on JAC Paper and has general tagging along each side.
It was issued in booklet panes of 12 stamps; however, an inverted die-cut example (SC #1867a) was also issued in Canada Post’s quarterly collector’s pack on Oct. 4, 2000, and its annual collection later that year.
Petro-Canada’s familiar red-and-white sign is a symbol of Canada’s gas station—”a reliable stop for fuel, oil and food, but also a symbol of exploration, discovery and developments in oil and natural gas,” according to a statement issued by Canada Post in 2000.
“From its creation as a crown corporation in 1975, Petro-Canada has grown to become a successful profit-oriented business with world-class assets.”