Mr. Speaker, in the short time remaining I will summarize what I said earlier and perhaps add a point or two. The motion before the House is flawed. There are resolutions to this issue through the provincial governments by regulating prices at the pumps, and there are solutions available from the Conservative Party based on its own pledges and its own position while it was in opposition.
I was getting to the point of talking about how I think energy costs are inexorably on the rise. It is a matter of supply and demand. There are some who are saying that we are entering a point of what we call peak oil. In other words, the oil supply has peaked. There are other professionals who debate that. Nonetheless, we know that more demand and less supply moves the price upward.
I think that what we need to do, as I was mentioning earlier, is look at alternatives to conventional petroleum products. We need to look at biofuels, hybrids and fuel cells. That is why the Liberal government supported the research and development being undertaken by Ballard fuel systems. We need to look at solutions like hydrogen and a whole range of other technologies to help bring forward different types of fuels that will reduce the demand for the typical hydrocarbon solutions.
Finally, in conclusion, I would like to point out that with respect to a monitoring agency, in October 2005 our Liberal government introduced measures to strengthen transparency by announcing an office of energy price information to monitor energy price fluctuations and to provide clear information to the Canadian public. Also, funds were allocated to Industry Canada to beef up the Competition Bureau in its examination of questions that come up from time to time with respect to gasoline pricing.
I hope the government follows through with those initiatives because I think they will help, but I think the motion before the House today is flawed and I certainly will be voting against it.