Ladies and gentlemen, good afternoon. Thank you for being with us today.
We are meeting this afternoon because consumers are concerned. All of us are trying to understand what kind of action can be taken. This is a market where competition is not working particularly well, since we are seeing very significant price fluctuations.
Ms. Marcotte, these increases are a result of higher crude oil prices and refinery margins. I would like to focus on refinery margins. It seems that the refining cost is between 2.5¢ and 4¢ a litre. Your association had already stated that a refinery margin deemed to be adequate, in order to make a good profit, was between 4¢ and 6¢ a litre. However, in 2007, it was 28¢ a litre, which is five to seven times too much.
What kind of solutions could be considered? Is decreased refining capacity having an effect? We noted that the number of refineries has dropped considerably. Is that the real issue? What can we do to resolve it?