‘Eerie parallel’: Archived stamps reveal Canada was prepared to ration gas in the 1979 oil crisis

Turmoil in Iran, a major disruption in world oil markets, and stratospheric gasoline prices in Canada and beyond. What’s racking motorists and governments in 2026 also faced them in 1979, sparked by the Iranian Revolution.

Back then, the shock to the global oil supply sent consumers around the world panic buying and hoarding gas, spiking oil demand.

As Calgary economist Peter Tertzakian recently learned, it prompted Canada’s government to seriously consider conserving oil by way of gasoline rationing stamps.

They even printed sheets out to prepare for that drastic step, entitling a holder to 50 litres of gas.

When the energy economist and founder of Studio.Energy saw original proofs of the stamps in Natural Resources Canada’s archives, he was taken aback.

“I was shown them and I go, whoa. I mean, this is just like a blast from the past,” he said. 

A national rationing system would have allowed essential services like ambulances and farmers to get priority access to gas. Others would be able to purchase 50 litres per stamp, designed to equalize access to fuel, Tertzakian explained.

While Ottawa never ended up putting the stamps into circulation because supply eventually stabilized, Tertzakian said the proofs — and the oil crises of the 70s and 80s — are a reminder that anything can happen in an oil shortage.

It may also foreshadow a possible gas-saving measure in the current context of the war in the Middle East.

“Basically, the geography is the same. The curtailment at that time of several million dollars of oil a day led to price spikes much as we’re seeing today, and the potential for outright shortages as evidenced by Canada printing these stamps,” he said.

“There’s an eerie parallel [to today]. Same place, same kind of circumstances, different era.”

Since the U.S. and Israel initiated an attack on Iran taking out Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, escalation in the region has starkly impacted prices at the pumps, globally.

Oil prices have surged above $100 US per barrel since the war began. Average gasoline prices across Canada now average around $1.68 per litre, up sharply from $1.29 last month, according to the Canadian Automobile Association.

Several nations have already implemented measures to hoard and ration gas.

Much of what’s exported through the Strait of Hormuz is exported to Asia, leaving countries like Sri Lanka, the Philippines and Vietnam to urge residents to save gas by working from home.

While no measures of this kind have been implemented by Canada as of yet, oil rationing is not unprecedented in the nation’s history, and according to Tertzakian, it’s not necessarily off the table.

In the 1970s, Americans — who had become accustomed to cheap and abundant oil supplies — took a hard hit to their wallets.

Some Arab members of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) stopped the flow of oil to the U.S. in protest to the country’s support for Israel in the Yom Kippur War with Syria and Egypt, according to the Smithsonian National Postal Museum.

Americans from coast to coast waited in long lineups around the block to fill up their tanks. An “odd-even rationing” system was adopted by several states: if the last digit on a license plate was odd they could only get gas on odd-numbered days, and even plates on even days.

To further cut energy consumption amid the national gas crisis, then U.S. president Richard Nixon signed a short-lived period of year-round daylight saving time into law in January 1974. The goal was to maximize evening sunlight and reduce the demand on lighting and heating. Canada also considered it though several provinces eventually shut the idea down.

Later that decade during the Iranian Revolution that deposed that country’s shah in favour of an Islamic republic, the country’s oil production declined by 4.8 million barrels per day by January that year, or about seven per cent of world production at the time.

A dig through the CBC News archives shows a report from July 3, 1979, which credited Canada’s western crude production and uninterrupted deliveries of oil imports for saving Canadians from gas rationing at the time.

U.S. motorists gas up in Canada

U.S. refineries on the other hand, couldn’t meet the immense demand for oil and were ordered to hoard heating supplies for the next winter, according to the report.

While the Canadian government had previously implemented gas rationing measures in World War II, it never implemented measures in the 70s and 80s.

A 1979 Globe and and Mail article notes that Parliament introduced the Energy Supplies Emergency Act to impose rationing if necessary, “involving some form of ration cards or stamps” but the federal minister at the time said this power was unlikely to ever be needed.

Canadians near the U.S. border, however, more directly felt the spillover effects of the American oil shortage.

On May 9, 1979, rationing came into effect for the state of California, prompting long lineups at local gas stations.

Some drivers in northern U.S. states who faced domestic shortages chose to hop the border instead, driving up north to fill up their tanks during the gas shortage. Locals were less keen about traffic from south of the border, according to a CBC News report.

“I think we should … set up a separate line for Americans,” said an unmanned driver waiting in a queue. “I only have an hour for lunch, I’m not going to sit around the corner waiting for my gas. We’re supposed to have plenty of it.”

Gas rationing stamps were also produced in the U.S. in that decade, though like in Canada, never issued. According to the Smithsonian National Postal Museum, around five billion gas rationing coupons were produced in response to the 1973-74 oil crisis.

The stamps featured a bust of George Washington and were valued at “one unit;” the unit being a generic term which could be defined by the U.S. government to meet the demands of the time.

Looking back at the history, Tertzakian said, what’s different this time around is that the world economy is even more dependent on oil commodities. 

While North America is more self-sufficient today because oil trade has increased between Canada and the U.S., versus with the Middle East, “the upset of the world trade routes and supply chains means that… if there’s a global shortage, anything can happen in terms of how we view these vital commodities,” he said.

As Canadians are currently faced with soaring gas prices, Tertzakian said there are two possible ways that gas rationing could manifest itself as a reality in Canada’s near future.

One, if there’s a physical oil shortage in Canada — which a region like Central Canada may be more vulnerable to given a lack of an East-West pipeline — then there would be a need to ration, he said.

“But the other possibility is that if there’s global scarcity … then the price will go much higher [and] if the price goes to $150 a barrel or $200 a barrel,” Tertzakian said. “Now you’ve got the justification to ration so that everybody in society has equal access to the commodity — not just wealthy people who can afford $5 a litre.”

In 1979, the International Energy Agency (IES) agreed to reduce oil demand by two million barrels a day, in an effort to help bring down surging prices. Just last week, the IEA agreed to release 400 million barrels of oil from its strategic reserves.

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“We fell into the trap nearly 50 years ago … after the crisis passed, we just kind of were apathetic about this whole thing,” Tertzakian said. 

“And every time since that we’ve had a near brush with this kind of scenario we’ve wiped our brow and said you, you know, okay, we dodged that bullet and then [it’s] sort of like back to normal,” he said.

“But I think we have to think long-term and strategically about all the vital commodities that Canada has to offer … and that in times of crisis that we should be thinking about how we can share and help others.”