Mr. Speaker, I would like to thank my colleague for splitting his time with me. I am honoured to have the opportunity to speak on behalf of my electors who are deeply preoccupied by the fluctuating and rising price of gasoline and who are indeed angered by this phenomenon. I share their frustration as a motorist and as their representative.
As elected officials, we have a duty to propose responsible, reasonable and rational solutions to the problems that we confront here in the House on behalf of the citizens of Canada. I have noticed essentially two proposals from the opposition parties. One would create an office to monitor and study the price of gasoline and the margins at retail, at wholesale, and at the refinery level.
This idea has been promoted by my colleagues on the right in the NDP and by my colleagues on the opposite side from the Bloc Québécois. I accept this idea. It would be a very good thing to analyze regularly and with some rigour what is going on in the oil markets. I believe that information is power and with that information Canadians and their government could put pressure on oil companies and call them to task. I support that idea, whether it has to be a separate bureaucracy with all the added expense associated with it or whether it could be something created within the Competition Bureau. I am rather agnostic on that point.
The other solution that has been advanced is one which I do not believe to be the right solution. It has been advanced by my colleagues in the Conservative Party. They believe that we should reduce the GST on gasoline. I do not believe that this reduction would be passed on to consumers. It has failed in the United States where it has been tried, more specifically in Indiana and Illinois. It has not worked in New Brunswick. It is a very weak measure and just window dressing by a party that is not interested in reforming the structure of the oil industry in North America.
Indeed, it is a very difficult thing to do. Rather than propose a quick fix and ineffective solution, we need something at the federal level that will be more meaningful to Canadians. As a result, I would personally, on behalf of my constituents, favour a generalized cut to income taxes to compensate consumers for the added costs of gasoline in these very tumultuous times.
Similarly, I would support a direct rebate. I know this measure has been tried before, but I believe that if it is possible to work something out that is administratively sound, then I would support that as well.
In conclusion, the oil industry has a North American market. Reducing the GST on gasoline and creating some kind of price gap between the United States and Canada would simply result in Americans crossing the border and absorbing the supplies of gasoline in Canada that would and should otherwise be available to Canadian consumers.
Again, we need to focus on increasing the productivity of our economy. We need to focus on a tax system that is competitive. Lowering income taxes and/or providing a rebate directly to consumers would be the best way to go in this matter.