Mr. Speaker, if the motion only called for the surtax, then we would have to be very careful about the impact mentioned by my colleague. However, our motion also calls for the creation of a petroleum monitoring agency. We must be able to look closely at how the industry works to see whether this surtax is passed on to consumers. In strengthening the act, we must ensure that the Competition Bureau can do a market study. That was one proposal that the Liberals agreed to when amendments to Bill C-19 were tabled last fall.
With these extra tools, it is clear that, in the short term, a surtax would be effective in allowing distribution of the profits that companies have been accumulating shamelessly for the last two years and a return on investment. This whole action plan, including the three proposals that are in the motion and others that could be added, would enable the government to play its role in an appropriate way and, most of all, to express the political will to take action in this area.