Subcommittee on Oil and Gas and Other Energy Prices committee  As I said earlier, a carbon tax applied directly to gasoline at the pump would result in an increase in price. Anything other than that is unclear; that's all I can say. Without understanding exactly how it would play out, I can't forecast. If it's applied somewhere else or to ot

Subcommittee on Oil and Gas and Other Energy Prices committee  In my opinion, I think you have to ask them.

Subcommittee on Oil and Gas and Other Energy Prices committee  If I can add to that—

Subcommittee on Oil and Gas and Other Energy Prices committee  Sure. Just quickly, there are areas in Canada that are very vulnerable to inventory run-outs, there's no question. With the concentration of refiners, with running at low inventories, and with limited infrastructure to bring imported product in, especially in the winter, there

Subcommittee on Oil and Gas and Other Energy Prices committee  No. The world price of crude oil determines the cost that a refiner pays for that crude oil and so determines a refiner's cost, and then at the wholesale level it is the world price of gasoline, for example, that sets those rack prices where most retailers buy. I think that's fai

Subcommittee on Oil and Gas and Other Energy Prices committee  It's from crude oil, no question.

Subcommittee on Oil and Gas and Other Energy Prices committee  Sure, yes.

Subcommittee on Oil and Gas and Other Energy Prices committee  This is just to address your question of inventories. I can't speak on the crude oil side, but on the product side, this is part of the reason we would like to see a monitoring program in place for product inventories—that is, inventories of gasoline, heating oil, and diesel, t

Subcommittee on Oil and Gas and Other Energy Prices committee  I don't think they do, necessarily. I think that's a perception that is out there with consumers.

Subcommittee on Oil and Gas and Other Energy Prices committee  I know. I really don't think they do on a consistent basis. Competition is really the reason that prices fluctuate as much as they do. In some markets they don't fluctuate as much; in some markets they fluctuate ten times a day.

Subcommittee on Oil and Gas and Other Energy Prices committee  Keep in mind that there are hundreds and hundreds of retailers in this market. Using economic theory, the competition at the retail level is very high. I would suggest that at the wholesale level those prices underpin retail and that there is much less competition at the wholesal

Subcommittee on Oil and Gas and Other Energy Prices committee  I think transparency is the key thing. One thing we have talked about regularly is having information beyond price available in the public domain. The amount of fuel that's available at any particular time--gasoline inventories and heating oil inventories, for example--is not in

Subcommittee on Oil and Gas and Other Energy Prices committee  We are absolutely price takers; that is, we operate in a global pricing environment. I take issue with just one thing Mr. MacLean has said about the physical markets--the question of speculation and how much speculation impacts the actual price we're paying at the pump. The phy

Subcommittee on Oil and Gas and Other Energy Prices committee  Presumably a carbon tax would increase the price of gasoline at the pump. I'm certainly not going to comment here on whether that would be a favourable or unfavourable thing to do.

Subcommittee on Oil and Gas and Other Energy Prices committee  Thank you. There's no question that the concentration of refineries or refiners in Canada is quite high; in other words, there are very few refiners in Canada, just a handful. I think it's nine, if I have that number right. It's in that area anyway. Because of this, if one esp