Mr. Speaker, I would like to draw the House's attention to a project developed by a group of business people in my riding. The project is important to farmers, both from a financial and an ecological standpoint.
The project calls for the construction in our region of an ethanol fuel plant with a production capacity of 150 million litres.
Ethanol is a clean, ecologically safe fuel and a plant with this capacity would use roughly 385,000 tonnes of corn every year, or 20 per cent of current production.
The arrival on the scene of this industry in the riding would create 225 direct and indirect jobs, 325 jobs associated with the raw material itself and 600 construction-related jobs.
In order for ethanol to become an economical fuel alternative, the tax on ethanol fuel must be removed. Mr. Speaker, I ask the Minister of Finance to look into this matter and to consider this course of action in order to promote similar projects across Canada.