Mr. Speaker, I want to thank the hon. member opposite who introduced Bill C-267, because when Liberal members and the government introduce something worthwhile, you may rest assured we intend to support them.
It is true there is a serious problem, and we must have the ability to defend the weakest against the multinationals. The price of gas must be regulated. I would have thought that the big oil companies would allow fair competition with independent gas retailers. In the past few months, especially this summer, I noticed that this competition is entirely unfair.
What do the big oil companies want? They simply want to get rid of the independents, and this is a tragedy for Quebec and the Maritimes. In the past few months they have been intent on closing down independents and possibly getting rid of them altogether. They have already caused many to disappear this way, and they would like to get rid of them altogether.
Of course the consumer may think this is wonderful. If I go to the gas station and I can pay 20 cents less for a litre of gas, I most certainly will take advantage of this. However, we know perfectly well that in a matter of months or years, the multinationals, since
they want to control everything, will strangle the consumer as they strangled the independents.
Well there must be some kind of control. This attempt to knock out the independents is another illustration of the harmonious concert of converging interests, practices and prices that unites the big oil companies: Ultramar, Shell, Petro-Canada, Esso, and Imperial Oil in Quebec. They are refiners, wholesalers and retailers. The big oil companies have broken the unspoken rules of a market in which the big oil companies were prepared to live with competition from the independents.
Formerly, the system worked. Independents could, from time to time, sell gas a little cheaper and provide better service. When the big oil companies saw this happening, they wondered what they should do, and they said: "O.K., let us get rid of them." This summer, Ultramar was particularly ferocious in the ensuing price war.
The independents, who were losing enormous amounts of money, could not keep up, and some with fairly high mortgages had to close their doors. I call that disgusting, unfair, and monstrous when they want to get rid of the little guy in order to control the market.
Over the years, independents, as they are usually referred to, gradually increased their market share from 20 or 25 per cent, and for us, especially in rural areas, in my riding of Matapédia-Matane, it was wonderful. They were not just selling gas but provided all the other services you can get at a gas station, never mind those people who believe that capitalism and a free market are each other's corollary. Personally, I do not think that is true at all.
The government must protect those independent retailers. The presence of efficient independent companies alone assures Quebec consumers a fair and equitable price for petroleum products. If they disappear, if the large oil companies take over, then consumers must beware. These large corporations will set the prices according to their fancy and we will have to pay or walk.
The issue is even worse for the independents. There are 300 distributors in Quebec selling gasoline and heating fuel and 2,423 retailers established mainly in the regions and serving their respective communities. When a community has no more gasoline, no more school, it might as well shut down.
Moreover, it accounts for 10,000 semi skilled or non skilled jobs. This means that many young people with no education or very little education can find jobs, and good ones at that. It accounts for $200 million in salary, 82 per cent of which in the areas around Montreal and Quebec City. The commercial spinoffs-convenience stores, machine shops, etc-throughout Quebec are on the order of $164 million.
The disappearance of healthy competition and the resultant increase in prices are jeopardizing consumers' protection. Again, the goal of multinationals is not only to recover the portion of the market they have lost over the past decade to more efficient independent distributors-and we know they are more efficient because of the many services they render-but mostly to eliminate them altogether so as to have maximum control over the retail market.
In Quebec, we have a situation where for more than a decade regional development and local entrepreneurship are at the heart of economic development. When independents disappear, life becomes very difficult in small communities. The performance and efficiency of some 2,423 gasoline and heating oil independent distributors in Quebec are the living proof of that. The independents must be able to earn a decent living without necessarily turning into multinationals. I say, "Good for them", as they can still earn a decent living.
In addition to increasing their market share from 15 per cent in 1984 to 31 per cent in 1993, they saw the average number of litres sold per station rise by 31 per cent between 1991 and 1995, thus confirming their economic presence in rural communities.
Yet, after five years of price wars against the multinationals, which unfairly control the profit margins of all gas station operators in Quebec, that province's independent businesses find themselves economically vulnerable. They are powerless to stop the fair market value of their businesses from eroding.
Meanwhile, unfortunately, the multinationals more than compensate for the losses arising from this planned retail price war by increasing their consolidated profit margins through their integrated refining and petrochemical operations.
In their case, they can absorb losses through their refineries, since they are not mere retailers. Because they have more options, they can do a lot better than others.
This situation allows them to fix prices, high prices, knowing full well that, even if they incur losses for a year or two, they will make up for these during years, even decades, and that, in the end, they will be richer.
Independent retailers are quite willing to face competition, because they know they can provide additional services. They know it and they have demonstrated it by cornering a very respectable share of the market. In fact, their share of the market was increasing and this is what hurt the multinationals, which then decided to eliminate independent retailers, who were surviving because they could provide more services while still making adequate, albeit lower profits.
The government must indeed introduce a piece of legislation that will enable everyone to operate in a free market, where the competition is fair, unlike what we have seen for a while now.