Madam Speaker, I listened intently to my Conservative colleague and I hope that he will agree with me. It is true that the government gets more tax revenues, among others, from the GST and the tax on gas. But there is also the fact that oil companies are taking advantage of the situation to amass surpluses that we should simply condemn totally.
During the past month, on September 2, oil companies took in 46.4¢ a litre for refining. On September 3, 4 and 5, it was 39.3¢ a litre, while in 2000, the average for the year was 7.9¢ a litre.
Our problem does not come only from the fact that the government should help the people most in need. The Bloc Québécois is in favour of this. However, we must also be able to discipline the industry, which is taking advantage of the situation to amass surpluses because the price of crude oil has increased around the world.
In the last 30 days, the price of gas has increased by 26.1¢ a litre. This is what the industry has collected for refining, while, in one year, by collecting 7¢ a litre on average, it would make reasonable profits.
Will my colleague agree that there should be a petroleum monitoring agency to be able to discipline the industry, which only cares for its shareholders and providing them with dividends every three months, instead of giving some to consumers?