Mr. Speaker, I am pleased to rise in this House today to pursue the question I asked on April 24, 2006, about the price of gasoline. For a few years now we have seen the price of gasoline increase significantly and this has had a negative impact on the economy not just because of the increases, but because of how quickly and how much the price goes up and down. This has a major impact on the manufacturing industry and contributes to creating a dual economy in Canada. On one hand the economy is doing quite well in terms of the price of energy, but on the other hand the increases in price have a significant negative impact, on manufacturing jobs in particular.
At the Standing Committee on Industry, Science and Technology we recently welcomed the Governor of the Bank of Canada. He told us that the manufacturing industry was suffering a great deal because of this problem. It is important for the federal government to realize that in this industry, laissez-faire is not a path for the future. It is not a matter of regulating the price or of saying there is collusion between the companies. That is not the issue. However, we have to recognize that one sector of the economy is holding the rest of the economy hostage. This has harmful effects on the entire economy and on consumers.
This is especially true for the less fortunate in our society, seniors, people living alone or people who have to travel to work and need a vehicle to get to their work. They do not necessarily earn a big income. When the price of gas increases significantly, this automatically affects someone earning minimum wage and it almost becomes a disadvantage for them to work. Something absolutely needs to be done about this.
That is why I am pleased to question the government today. I will do so tomorrow, an opposition day on the issue of gas prices. We must ensure that the government has a plan of action to deal with the reality. We must examine the situation and stop hiding our heads in the sand like ostriches. We must have an action plan, just like the United States that decided to develop one. The President of the United States, the Senate and the House of Representatives felt that it was an important issue, particularly everything that concerns the refining of oil products. In North America, the refining undercapacity has lead to speculation, in turn driving up the price of gas.
Today I attended an information session given by the Departments of Natural Resources and Industry and the Competition Bureau. Many questions went unanswered.
Tomorrow I hope to have considerable support for the Bloc Québécois position from this House, and I hope that the parliamentary secretary—or the government—will adopt our position, especially with regard to the unchecked increase in profits. We must find a good way of distributing wealth. It is the responsibility of government. Currently, some people are making large profits from oil and it is important for the rest of society to benefit also. Current behaviour is weakening our manufacturing industry.
I hope that the government is aware of this, that it has more than just a short-term vision, that it will listen to our arguments and that it will go ahead with our proposals.