Mr. Speaker, the hon. member is citing issues dealing with the environment, which we could have a debate on, but I want the hon. member to deal with the reality in his own province.
The British Columbia commission of inquiry into gasoline in 1996 pointed out several deficiencies with the Competition Act, the Competition Act and the Competition Bureau in which the member and his party clearly have so much confidence. I do not know if the hon. member realizes this but in 2002-03 the Competition Bureau agreed that amendments were necessary for the Competition Act to become more effective.
However, in his own province and given that I have had several calls from radio stations and from constituents in his region, would he not want to at least learn a little about the process to understand that what we are asking for is no less than what has been recommended by a number of bodies, including the previous commissioners and, more important, two bills that came before this House to allow that price discrimination and predatory pricing be found under civil provisions? Therefore, we could stop them before they happen as opposed to the criminal provision, which is impossible to prove.
I would point out to the hon. member that several of his colleagues, many of them from Ontario, agree with this position, as have many of his provincial counterparts. If he would just focus for a moment on the motion, could he actually tell us whether he agrees with his own findings in his own province or will he expatiate in a whole different area that has nothing to do with the resulting concerns that his constituents have with respect to the regional prices of gas?
On that point, if I could, whether it is new, clean technology or whether it is burgeoning technology from different areas, the same deficient structure in the Competition Act continues to exist. It does not matter whether it is ethanol or hydrogen. If the same companies rely on the same faulty document, the Competition Act, the hon. member will need to explain to constituents, beyond all the rhetoric, why it is that they never had an opportunity, when given the opportunity, to change that act. Will he do that now?