Mr. Speaker, I will reply to my honourable colleague with the figures provided earlier, including those which apply to the matter raised by independent oil companies in Quebec. Petroleum companies reap fairly good profits when refining margins are in the neighbourhood of 5¢ to 6¢ a litre. This margin is highly attractive and has been for several years. Currently, petroleum companies have a refining margin of 19.5¢.
There are questions to be raised about the roles that the organizations could have played. The Bloc Québécois' motion would create a price monitoring agency that would be completely independent from the House and that would provide much better protection for citizens than they now have.