Mr. Speaker, I am pleased to have the opportunity to speak to this very important matter as a follow up to my colleague from Markham—Unionville.
The issue of gas prices is very important to Canadians. Many of my colleagues, from all parties, have indicated that a lot of Canadians have asked questions of parliamentarians, of other politicians and of other political leaders about the situation with the rising gas prices.
It is certainly having an impact on our economy, the income of Canadians and their financial obligations. It is important to have this discussion and debate, so I am glad to have the opportunity to speak to the issue because it is vital to my constituents and to other Canadians.
What is needed is an honest and frank debate so we can have a discussion about the real situation and what we can do. As leaders of our country, what is our role as legislators and what is the role government to find a solution to the increasing pressure on Canadian families? It was quite disappointing and disheartening when we witnessed the Conservative offering nothing for Canadians, nothing on the subject and nothing on the substance of the debate.
As I walked in tonight, I was joking with the Minister of Natural Resources. I pre-empted him. I asked him if he would accuse us of raising gas prices. That is exactly what happened. The Minister of Natural Resources debated this issue for 10 minutes. What did he talk about? All he did was accuse the future Liberal government of raising gas prices, falsely.
Let me be very clear. The Liberal Party has no plans to raise gas taxes, just like the Liberal Party has no plan to raise the GST. The Conservatives have offered nothing but rhetoric and pandering rather than discuss this issue on its merits and its substance.
What is going on right now? Oil prices will continue to rise. They have been rising for the last couple of years. I do not know why the Minister of Natural Resources bragged about the fact that gas prices had doubled under his mandate and he could nothing about it.
I disagree. A lot of things could be done about it. Perhaps the initial instinct would be to control the price. It would be our primal instinct to do that. However, that is not the solution. If we really want to offer a genuine solution out of this dilemma for Canadians, we cannot fool Canadians into believing a short term imposition or fixing of prices will fix the problem or resolve the issue.
Several provinces tried to control gas prices and ended up causing an increase of gas prices. A lot of market controls may appear to have some short term impact, but eventually the long term impact is negative and Canadians will end up paying in consequence.
What is important is there has to be a recognition that our dependence on fossil fuels is not sustainable, obviously, for environmental reasons. We know the harmful effects of greenhouse gas emissions. That is indisputable. We also now know the negative impact on our economy of this dependence on oil prices. As oil prices continue to rise, our economic activity will stagnate.
We see what is happening to our traditional manufacturing sector, to farming and to transportation. A lot of these industries are being impacted by gas prices. We need to find a way to transition our economy and prepare it for the 21st century.
The 21st century economy is going to be less dependent on fossil fuels. A competent CEO would foresee the future of the market and position his or her company to benefit for the patterns and the potential growth in the market. He or she would invest and work in the areas where the growth is and divest from areas where there is very little growth predicted. That is what a government should be doing in managing our economy.
We need to see the signs. If we do not act now, we will be sleepwalking into economic irrelevance, not to mention negatively impacting our environment and leaving a bad legacy for future generations.
What the leader of the Liberal Party is proposing is that it is high time we shift our economy and transition our economic activity from activities that could be perhaps in their dying or stagnant days to activities of future growth, jobs, investment and green technology. We also need economic activity that would be beneficial to our environment, that would punish pollution and reward investment and creativity. That is the real answer to this dilemma.
To look the other way and eschew that there is nothing that can be done is nothing but pure incompetency and neglect of the duties that Canadians expect of their government.
What our Liberal leader has been proposing is that it is time we drafted a new policy for the 21st century economy. It is time we reward good behaviour, such as income, investment, green technology, the creation of jobs. It is time we shifted that tax burden on to things that we want less of, such as pollution, greenhouse gases, waste.
This is simple yet brilliant. This is what Canadians want. This is what Canadian expect of political leaders. We can disagree on the substance. I welcome this debate and I am sure we will be have it in the future weeks and months. The one thing no one can disagree with is that the leader of the Liberal Party is working on behalf of Canadians. He is being creative and presenting ideas and taking his responsibilities seriously.
What have the Conservatives offered? They have offered nothing but pandering, fearmongering and misleading Canadians. They are doing that because they are panicking. They know the Liberal Party, under its current leadership, is presenting Canadians with a real alternative, with thoughtful ideas and a bold vision that will position Canada to be a leader in the world for job creation, for environmentally sustainable strategies, for improving our social inequity. That is why the Conservatives are attacking us in a ridiculous fashion and making up false stories. They know they cannot really have an alternative to the policy that our leader has presented.
This is a serious issue and Canadians are expecting us, as political representatives in Ottawa, to debate it, to show some enthusiasm and some zeal for the protection of the interests of Canadians, for drafting the future of our economy and for the betterment of our environment. This is what we plan on doing in the next election.
I know the Conservatives will have nothing to say except explain why gas prices have more than doubled under their watch. They have offered nothing to solve the environment crisis or to help our economy. Jobs are being lost, the environment is continuing to deteriorate, but the government has no vision except to fabricate, and I do not want to say words that are unparliamentary, but makeup untrue facts.
This is really a reflection of the Conservative Party. It has nothing to offer Canadians except to be in opposition, and that is where they belong.