Mr. Speaker, I know that the tactic or strategy of the Conservatives consists in constantly saying that the Competition Bureau does investigations. This week, answering a question asked by the Bloc, the Minister of Natural Resources said that there had been many investigations to check if there was collusion between oil companies.
Mr. Speaker, please explain something for me. There are very busy commercial streets in your riding. At some intersections, it is not rare to see four gas stations: one Esso, one Petro-Canada, one Shell and one from another company. How come when one station raises its price by 5¢ a litre, it only takes a few minutes for the other three to do the same? Is this real competition?
The guy who sells refrigerators or furniture in your area does not raise its prices when his competitor does. If he wants to remain in business, he must keep his prices as low as possible to convince you to buy in his store. Why do the four gas stations raise their prices at the same time? That shows that there is collusion. Those companies all sleep together. In fact, refining is done by only one company for a whole region. In Quebec, one company does the refining, in the Maritimes it is another one and in Ontario, there are others too.
So, to give a specific answer to the hon. member, I will say that we need a real petroleum monitoring agency that has teeth and is able to take action.