Madam Speaker, the member mentioned taxes on gasoline and I know he did not mean the GST because farmers get it back as a rebate. Excise tax on diesel is four cents a litre, the lowest in the G-8 countries. It is 10 cents a litre on gasoline. Because this is a business cost, farmers get some of that back. I would support lowering these taxes.
The member misquoted one of my colleagues. I see the problem this way. Frank McKenna took three cents a litre off gasoline a few years ago resulting in the price going down for a day or two. The following week it was back up at the same level. The three cents which had been taken off was not going to the consumers but it was going to the oil companies which were already making too much money.
I wonder if the member would ask his provincial government to regulate the price of gasoline in his province in such a way that the taxes that were cut by the federal government would genuinely flow not to the oil companies but to the farmers whom he claims to represent.