Yes, on this side we certainly understand that. The excise tax on diesel fuel is four cents. In Ontario the tax on diesel fuel is about 13.5 cents a litre.
How could we realistically come to the Chamber and put before us a motion that does not address the issues they are proposing to address? At the same time they ask, if we did something on excise taxes and it did not flow through to consumers, would it be such a big deal?
We are managing the tax dollars of Canadians. If we are to do anything we want to make sure it gets to consumers. The NDP has proposed some regulatory mechanism to try to ensure that would happen. I personally do not support it because it would be far too regulatory and cumbersome.
As members on the benches opposite know, the reality is that it would be virtually impossible to determine if a reduction in the excise tax made its way to consumers. There are many different variables. The oil companies will say that they were planning to do it but forgot it because their other costs went up.
The motion is horribly flawed. I am very disappointed that we did not have an opportunity to vote on an amendment so the House and Canadians would have an opportunity to see the two sides of the coin. I certainly will not be supporting the motion put forward by the Alliance Party. I would encourage everybody in the House to do the same.