I would just like to add to that answer by saying that what protects consumers best is the presence of competition. The reason Quebec intervened in the retail petroleum products sector was the major crisis in 1996, when gas was being sold for 35¢ at the pump and for 56¢ at the refinery, to anyone who wanted to take his truck over to buy a litre of gas.
It was absolutely ridiculous. Under those conditions, it was clear that in the coming months, all the independents would be driven from the market. Why did the government intervene? Well, to ensure that a reasonably large number of businesses would continue to operate in the retail sector, so that there would continue to be competition.
Looking at this 10 years later, it is clear this strategy worked — first of all, because the independent sector has stayed strong, and also because we still have an independent importer who is able to keep refinery prices at a level similar to the one in New York. Furthermore, when all is said and done, prices in Quebec excluding taxes, as Ms. Marcotte pointed out, are lower than in any other region of Canada. We believe that modest regulatory action in Quebec has yielded good results. The system can still be improved, obviously, but it has yielded good results.
