Mr. Speaker, on February 21, I asked a question on gasoline prices and I would like to read this question to be sure that those who are listening understand why I am speaking in the House today.
At the time, I said:
—gasoline now costs 71.9 cents a litre in Bathurst, while diesel is at 79.4 cents a litre in Yarmouth, the highest level in ten years.
Canadians are discouraged and now truckers from Ontario, Quebec, Nova Scotia and New Brunswick are protesting at the New Brunswick border against this drastic increase in the price of gasoline. Some of them even think they may have to hand over their trucks to the banks.
Will the federal government finally act, or will it wait until the situation becomes a national crisis?
This was the answer of the Secretary of State for International Financial Institutions:
Mr. Speaker, it is true that the price of oil has actually doubled since last year. Taxes went up by only 1 cent.
This is not the problem for people buying gasoline. The problem is not taxes, but the fact the price of oil has doubled.
I never mentioned taxes in my question. What I asked was if the government intended to act. I asked the government to take action because, as we all know, it has responsibilities.
We know the cost to truckers, not only those of New Brunswick but everywhere else in Canada, to drive their truck and work day after day. For instance, they had to go to the New Brunswick border. How many truckers in Quebec were forced to organize protests because of oil prices?
I asked why the federal government did not take action like, for instance, the Government of Prince Edward Island. The federal government is going to say that it is not its responsibility, that it is the provinces' responsibility.
My question dealt with the fact that the federal government could have co-ordinated national meetings. It was unacceptable, in our country, to see how oil companies reacted when the price increased. On weekends, the price of gas was high, on weekdays, it was lower. It changed every day. In my book, that is almost like stealing.
But, speaking of taxes, I will give an example. In the Atlantic provinces, the government brought in the harmonized tax. Before that tax, people in New Brunswick did not pay tax on heating oil. After that tax was introduced, even the poorest people had to pay tax on heating oil.
The federal government can work with the provinces and reach agreements to help people. It did not do that. In fact, it did the opposite.
The answer I got to my question was that it was just a one cent increase. In my question, I did not talk about taxes. But since we are on that subject, I will tell the government that it can do better than that, that it can remove the GST on heating oil, that it can help Canadians, that it can do something and also that it can join with the provinces in telling oil companies that this is unacceptable in our country.
It is unfortunate that I do not have more time. I just wanted to raise this issue and show how the government is out of touch with the people. Again, it missed a golden opportunity. But, what can one say, it is a Liberal government after all.