A member says it is a bargain. He is absolutely right. On Labour Day weekend, when Canadians were getting into their cars, their trucks or on to their motorcycles going to close the cottage or visit family and friends, the average increase in gasoline prices at the pumps was anywhere between 2 and 4 cents per litre. If a person's mother-in-law lived far away they would almost make up the five buck increase in one weekend. It happens every holiday weekend. It will probably happen Thanksgiving weekend. It will happen at Christmas and New Year's. People grumble and complain and ask why the gasoline goes up when people are on the move the most.
The hon. member from London is absolutely right when he says that $5 is a fair price. He is also right when he says, in contrast to other increases at the pumps, that it actually becomes a bargain for Canadians when we think of environmental and health issues as well.
When we talk about the economic impact, there are also the financial benefits which one has to work into the equation. It is not only the negatives that the petroleum industry talks about, although as our mathematics show it is not as negative as that. We have to work in the financial benefits. The petroleum industry oftentimes conveniently forgets about the benefits.
In the 1994 study commissioned by the CCME, it estimated health benefits of up to $31 billion over 23 years if cleaner fuels and more stringent vehicle emission standards were put in place. Put another way, the cost to Canadians in extra health costs, in pain, suffering and death, could be pared down by almost $1.5 billion a year, depending on whatever comes out of the tailpipes of our cars or trucks.
If this debate were only an economic ledger sheet, which it is not, the economic plus in taking MMT out of gasoline is clearly and convincingly a lot higher than the economic minus in leaving it in.
As Liberals we know that the ultimate decision underlying Bill C-29 is not just about economics, even though the economics comes out on our side, for Canadians expect us to do what we can to protect their health and to preserve the environment. They also expect us to protect consumers and Canadian automotive technology.
I am surprised at the indifference of the Government of Ontario, which locates the big three, which suggests that it is on an air campaign, which talks about the IJC and the air coming from the United States. I am flabbergasted that the province of Ontario and that the new minister in Ontario have been absolutely silent on this issue. It prefers to sit on the fence rather than take the right decision. If one could be allowed to boast about Ontario's economy, the reliance on our automotive industry, I think it was, as my colleagues say, a shame for the indifference and the silence that the Government of Ontario has demonstrated.
It is for all those reasons, a healthy environment, the need to promote cleaner fuels and alternative fuels, the trend to North American harmonization, consumer protection and the economic pluses, that there is little doubt as to why this legislation is necessary. The absolute bottom line is that Canadians want to breathe their air. They do not want to chew it. They do not want to filter it. They do not want to cleanse it. They certainly do not want to scrub it. They want to breathe it and they want to breathe it freely.
This bill will most definitely help in this basic desire. I urge all members of this House to give speedy passage to what is a good bill in the interests of all Canadians.