Mr. Speaker, I find it sad that the Minister of Industry used only half of the time allotted to him to talk about the gasoline crisis that many consumers are going through.
Since he became a minister—we have seen this in telecommunications and other areas—prices have increased every time he has relied on market forces. I also rely on them, but I see that there are no solutions.
Does the hon. minister agree? I have heard these speeches before, even from my own ministers of industry, and they finally realized they were wrong. The Competition Bureau said in 2002-03 that as a minimum it had no difficulty with pricing provisions going from a criminal to a civil burden, particularly for predatory pricing and price discrimination, which is what got us into this problem to begin with.
Prices have gone up. Does the minister take the time consider what the price of gas will be tomorrow?
On the two propositions made by my colleagues and by the NDP, would he at least agree with the wisdom of the previous competition's leadership and agree to those changes to ensure that Canadians have transparency as opposed to simply relying on what he calls market forces and allowing whoever it is to set the prices? The fact is that there is a 3¢ difference between us and the United States, ex tax. Will the minister act today to protect the interests of consumers? Or are we going to hear more lip service and the same line from the same department?