A worldwide shortage of helium is hitting Calgary party supply shops hard and balloon vendors say that over the last year the price of the gas has doubled.
Calgary’s Canuck Amusements has been told that its supplier won't be sending any more helium for the next couple of months.
“If I don't get it from my suppliers for what I use here weekly, I won’t be able to continue to fill balloons,” said Doug Earle from Canuck Amusements.
Earle says demand for balloons is slower after Stampede but they still use about four tanks a week and his store has been through this before.
“On our last shortage, we were just inundated with increases, I mean it was just constant and at times it was almost funny. I mean, you can raise my price but if I can’t get it what does it really matter,” said Earle. “The price has probably, over the last eighteen months, doubled for me.”
It is hard to fathom a shortage when helium is the second most abundant element in the universe.
Helium is extracted from natural gas and about 30 percent of it comes from the United States.
The US government has a huge underground storage facility in Texas but it is selling off almost all that helium and private companies have not yet stepped up to fill the void.
Balloons might be the most visible use of helium, but its most important use is in research and diagnostic equipment.
MRI units, for example, can't operate without the gas and its super-cooling properties and that fact has prompted some scientists to call for an outright ban on the use of helium in party balloons.
Alberta Health Services says it has long term contracts with suppliers for its helium and does not expect interruptions in delivery for MRI equipment
(With files from Kevin Green)
