Mr. Speaker, the member from Mississauga South seems to forget that, in the end, his nice calculation is meant for a perfect world where prices hardly vary. Our problem is that, within a few weeks at the beginning of September, the price variation reached 40 to 50¢ per litre and that oil companies have put 45¢ per litre in their pockets just for refining. In 2005, oil company profits will increase by nearly $1.5 billion, rising from $7.2 billion to $8.6 billion. If nobody stops them,their profits will reach $10.9 billion in 2006, which is a $2 billion increase.
What he tells us is that, while the government is not making more, except from the GST, its friends, the oil companies, are raking in huge profits and every quarter, money is flowing into shareholders' pockets. That is what we want to stop.
The problem is that oil companies are using crude oil price increases to rake in huge profits from refining. That is what we want to prevent through a petroleum monitoring agency. When refineries make profits, they should be fair and reasonable profits, without abusing people each time there is a crude oil price increase.
I do not understand why the government does not agree with our proposal for the creation of the petroleum monitoring agency. Why does the government not decide, if it is making huge surpluses with GST, to give back a large part of the money to the people, who greatly need it and who are being swindled by oil companies?