Madam Speaker, the hon. member asks a couple of questions. The first one that I will deal with is the role of government in high risk ventures. The oil sands are an extremely high risk venture. They have been buoyed by the fact that we have had an increase in the value of oil and gas. If we had not had that increase we would not have gone ahead with the development.
We would have continued to put dollars into them and they would never have floated. They would never have been a viable operation. They are only viable because of the increase in the value of the product they produce. The risk period is over. It can now be a standalone venture and be completely privatized. There is no need for Petro-Canada investment being there.
The other question dealt with the price of oil and gas. The government has a lot of leeway. It has an opportunity to show a lot of leadership regarding the price of oil and gas. It can get rid of the 1.5 cent deficit reduction tax on gasoline as there is no longer a deficit. There are a number of areas of excise tax that could be looked at. Part of reducing the cost of oil and gas is incumbent upon the federal government showing leadership, making reductions first and then challenging the provinces to meet it at least part way.