The next petition, Mr. Speaker, states that the availability of reasonably priced energy helps Canadians to offset the high cost of transportation in a geographically dispersed country and that mobility is a basic right and an economic necessity; that 52 per cent of the price of gasoline is composed of taxes; that the federal government reinvests in highways less than 5 per cent of its fuel tax revenues; and that two committees of Parliament recommended federal gas increases of 1.5 per cent and 2 per cent per litre respectively.
The petitioners therefore request that Parliament not increase the federal excise tax on gasoline and strongly consider reallocating its current revenues to rehabilitate Canada's crumbling national highways.