Mr. Speaker, it says a lot that the government claims to have no role to play, not to be there to take its responsibility as a government, but only to repeat that the market forces are at play and that the market will regulate itself.
We are proposing that a surcharge be imposed on profits made by big oil companies. No reasonable person can fail to notice that oil companies are generating excessive profits right now. A portion of these profits ought to benefit the economy one way or the other.
The petroleum monitoring agency would not be established to control gas prices, but to identify how exactly the market works, so that it can then report to the House.
It is necessary to strengthen the Competition Act. The competition commissioner herself testified before us that its current mandate and powers do not allow the competition bureau to conduct market studies in relation to anything other than conspiracy. This is the broader mandate we would like it to have. The government will be presented tomorrow with a motion asking for just that. I hope that it will listen to our arguments and eventually put in place an adjustment plan.