Mr. Speaker, first I would like to inform you that I will be splitting my time with my colleague from Abitibi—Baie-James—Nunavik—Eeyou.
Next, I want to congratulate my colleague from Montmagny—L'Islet—Kamouraska—Rivière-du-Loup for the motion he has piloted within the Bloc Québécois and tabled here on this opposition day. This motion says that the government should establish an action plan to counteract the negative effects of repeated increases in gas prices.
He is entirely right. He provides a few examples. Notably he suggests a surtax on the profits of major oil companies, to which I will return later, the creation of a petroleum monitoring agency, and the strengthening of the Competition Act.
If we look at the results of the hike in oil prices, we can see that there has been a misappropriation of wealth. A misappropriation of wealth on the part of the oil companies, which are making staggering profits to the disadvantage of consumers, consumers like you, me, truck drivers and taxi drivers. As a result we have to pay more for our gas, while the oil companies rake in huge profits.
We should therefore respond to this misappropriation by a re-appropriation, of which I will speak again later. This government will have to create new wealth—from the nest egg accumulated by the oil companies—which should then be shared out.
Also, if I have time, I would like to speak about our program for reducing our dependence on petroleum and its by-products. First of all, as you know, the petroleum industry must be made to contribute. We are currently witnessing an unprecedented transfer of wealth, to the benefit of the oil companies and to the detriment of the population and the federal government. This has to stop.
The first measure proposed by the Bloc Québécois is to impose a surtax on oil company profits. Whatever the reasons for oil crises, one thing is certain: it is the oil companies that profit from them.
According to Statistics Canada, American firms control 44% of the assets and 53% of the operating revenue declared by subsidiaries extracting petroleum, gas and coal. That means that the majority of profits of big oil companies goes to the United States.
What is more, the oil industry has been responsible for almost all the new greenhouse gas emissions in Canada since 1990. The oil industry, which as I said earlier is posting record profits, is the main source of growth of greenhouse gas emissions, and a good share of its profits goes directly to the United States. There is nothing to justify government support for this industry. Allow me to repeat: there is nothing to justify government support for this industry. Yet that is what the current Conservative government is doing. The federal government should be doing exactly the opposite, and imposing a surtax on the excessive profits of the oil companies. That will have the advantage of taxing the population—sorry, an understandable slip, which some might term Freudian—I meant to say taxing the pollution generated by this industry.
The Canadian tax system is very advantageous for the oil companies. According to the Finance Canada, it is even better than the one in Texas.
Since we know the oil companies are doing good business, the Bloc is proposing an increase in the present surtax applicable to corporate income tax. This surtax would apply only to oil companies and would enable the federal government to collect close to $500 million a year. The surtax would rise from 4% to 25.5% for the large oil companies. The tax rate on their profits would therefore rise from 29.12% to 32.9%, or still less than in Texas, where it is 35%. This measure would bring in about $500 million annually.
We should also take back the gifts that are so blithely handed out to the oil companies. The 2006 budget does not put an end to their tax gifts. In fact, even if none of the tax measures announced in the budget apply specifically to the oil companies, they will find many of the measures of particular interest to them. I will name just three: the 2% drop in corporate income tax, making it 19% by 2010; the quicker repeal of the capital tax; and the decrease in income tax for shareholders in large corporations.
We have to look for solutions that will not only create new wealth for this government from a surtax on the oil corporations, but also provide ways of sharing the wealth.
There are of course several groups, such as taxi drivers and truck drivers, who definitely need a tax credit or some support to counteract rising petroleum prices.
There is also a compensatory measure, however, that should be targeted better, particularly for households. Households whose income is below $30,000 should be compensated for the increase in energy costs. This would be better than the cheques for a few dollars that the last Liberal government handed out last January in the middle of the election campaign. This money was not always distributed very judiciously.
This tax credit was included, moreover, in the action plan developed by the Bloc Québécois and made public last August during the oil price crisis. In my opinion, it is time to look at this again so that a refundable tax credit can be introduced to help attenuate the effects of the rise in oil prices for those who need it most.
This tax credit would help households balance their budgets—households that have seen the price of oil increase and especially the price of a food basket because of the increase in transportation costs and heating costs.
Nearly 1,530,000 households in Canada use fuel oil as their main heat source, including more than 500,000 in Quebec. We just have to give these households a break, regardless of the energy source they use. The action plan proposed by the Bloc last August provided that households would receive a refundable tax credit for the 2005 fiscal year. Unfortunately, this is not possible now, but it should be done in the future.
There is also another way of looking at things. In the longer term, we could reduce our dependence on oil. All of us, all the Quebeckers and Canadians who are listening to us, should find their own individual approaches to the collective challenge of rising greenhouse gas levels. That is the real solution, but it will take a lot more time. Oil is a non-renewable resource. It will become increasingly scarce and unfortunately will be ever more expensive. I point this out because the oil companies are abusing it more and more.
The excessive use of oil and its derivatives as an energy source is one of the causes of climate change, which will prove very costly both economically and on the human level.
For all these reasons, it is more costly to do nothing than to take action. The solution is self-evident: we have to reduce our oil bill while at the same time reducing our dependence on a product that Quebec has to import. Luckily, Quebec is on the right track because, along with Norway, it is the only society in which oil is not the leading energy source.
We should encourage the purchase of vehicles that consume less energy. In view of the soaring price of gas, it is becoming even more imperative for the federal government to do what the Bloc Québécois has long been requesting, that is to say, abolish the sales tax on purchases of environment-friendly vehicles. An environment-friendly vehicle could be defined, for example, as any vehicle that uses less than 5 litres per 100 kilometres. This would cost the federal government approximately $90 million a year.
We should also encourage the manufacture of vehicles that consume less energy. We should invest in wind power too, and finally, encourage the use of public transit.