Mr. Speaker, I applaud the Bloc member for the motion today and for acknowledging the hard-working Canadians who are penalized by inflated gas prices, particularly those in rural areas who do not have the alternative of public transit, for example, and low income Canadians who simply cannot absorb the increased costs.
We know perfectly well that the oil companies cannot move fast enough to increase prices if they can justify it on the basis of the increased price of crude, but never do they turn around when the price of crude drops down and immediately reduce the price when it would seem to be indicated. It is a pretty selective process.
If I understood the previous question, if the Competition Act were strengthened, which is one of the provisions in the motion, I do not think there would be the need for a petroleum monitoring agency. However, the reason the oil companies are never found to be in violation of the Competition Act is that the act is so pathetically weak that the companies can do almost anything and get away with it.
I have two brief questions arising around the first provision in this three part motion which reads:
--the government should establish a plan to counteract the negative effects of repeated increases in gas prices, specifically including: a surtax on the profits of major oil companies....
Is it really the intention for such a surtax to be imposed on any profits or is the real intent to acknowledge that it is excessive profits or exorbitant profits--