Mr. Speaker, the federal government derives huge revenues from the sale of gasoline in Canada.
It rakes in over $6.3 billion annually just from excise taxes and the GST. If the $2 billion from taxing oil companies is added in, the government has over $8 billion from which to draw in tackling the hike in gasoline prices.
The recent increase in the price of gasoline continues to benefit the federal government by bringing in additional revenues.
As he often tries to do on many other occasions, the Minister of Finance is trying to duck the issue, and is shirking his responsibilities to taxpayers. He must take action immediately to improve the situation for taxpayers, and not try to shift the blame to the provinces.
Since we know that federal surpluses are much higher than the Minister of Finance forecast, the Bloc Quebecois thinks that he has sufficient leeway to do something about this problem immediately.
Canadian and Quebec taxpayers are not stupid; they know where the money is and who is in a position to take immediate action: Ottawa.