Mr. Speaker, before I begin my speech, I must inform you that I will be sharing my time with the member for Mont-Saint-Bruno—L'Acadie.
It is my turn to speak to the motion moved by our Conservative colleagues. I will try to cover five themes if I can stay on track and maintain my focus.
First of all, I would like to remind all of my colleagues that the Conservative Party's motion contains four parts. The Conservatives are calling on the government to remove the fuel excise tax; to remove the GST on gasoline and diesel for 2026; to permanently remove what the Conservatives call the fuel standards tax, which is actually the fuel standards regulations; and to permanently remove the industrial carbon tax. According to their calculations, these four measures could lower the price of gas by 20¢ to 25¢ per litre. Obviously, we do not agree with those proposals, and we will be voting against the motion.
I would like to explain why we are in this situation. I believe it has been said multiple times, but it is important to reiterate nevertheless. The price of crude oil has increased from around $60 a barrel at the end of February to around $100 today due to the war in the Middle East and the closure of the Strait of Hormuz. This situation is extremely worrisome because we do not know how it will end. I doubt that anyone today can claim that things will go back to the way they were. No one can say that, and neither can the possibility that the price of oil will reach $150 a barrel be dismissed out of hand. We do not know.
The Strait of Hormuz is still closed. Twenty per cent of the world's oil production transits through the strait. Some extremely important segments of the global economy, notably in Asia, are starting to experience fuel shortages. The current oil crisis is probably as big, or even bigger, than the oil crises the global economy has experienced in recent decades. This is not a minor disruption. It is a major shock, and we do not know how all of this will be resolved.
Furthermore, in retaliation for the U.S. attack, Iran destroyed a lot of energy infrastructure in the Gulf countries. Even if the Strait of Hormuz reopened tomorrow morning, fuel transportation could not resume as it was before February 28. This is an extremely worrying period for the global economy. We need to plan our next steps carefully because we simply do not know what the future holds for energy.
In Canada, we have enough energy for our own needs. There will clearly be no energy shortage in Canada, unlike in the 1970s. However, it is also clear that it is very difficult to determine the price of energy at this time. That is the context in which we find ourselves. It is important that we take it into consideration when developing public policies to support Canadians, who are indeed facing a major increase in gasoline prices, which will have repercussions on the entire food supply chain, on transportation and so on.
One part of the Conservative motion calls for a suspension of the fuel excise tax. As the Prime Minister announced, we are going to do that. However, we cannot implement the other parts of the motion. I will try to explain why I believe that we cannot and must not do so.
First, we are being asked to suspend the GST, which is a tax that was actually created and implemented by a Progressive Conservative government in the early 1990s. It is a value-added tax. This tax is effective because it is set at a relatively low rate and has very few exemptions or exceptions. That is what makes the GST work. In Europe, for example, the value-added tax is set at a much higher rate and includes a complex system of exemptions and exceptions that make it extremely difficult to manage.
First, it is clearly better to have a consumption tax than an income tax. Next, if we have a consumption tax, then it is better to keep the rate relatively low but allow for very few exceptions and exemptions. It has to be easy to administer. Let us be clear: Such a value-added tax must also support, promote and give preference to local and national producers over imported products. That is why it is so complex. We have to think twice or three times before we start making changes to the Canadian GST. It is best not to go there.
We also think that another part of the Conservative motion is completely inappropriate. It has to do with what they call the clean fuel tax, but what is actually the clean fuel regulations. What our friends are proposing is to completely eliminate those regulations. It is 2026. I think we need to continue to have clean fuel regulations so that the air in cities and rural areas is breathable. We do not want to go back to the good old days when people could burn just about anything and with no regard for the impact it would have on the air we breathe. Our American neighbours seem to want to go back to those days. No, we need to keep these regulations in place to make the air breathable. Our children need to be able to breathe.
Regarding the industrial carbon tax, I have always thought that Conservatives could understand how this kind of tax works. Ultimately, it is based on the pricing system. The pricing system sends the necessary signals to allocate resources in an economy. As I have already said before in the House, this is something that has been used by well-known socialists, such as Brian Mulroney with Canada's Clean Air Act or Ronald Reagan and the Clean Air Act. I still think it is important that we have such mechanisms in an advanced and open economy like Canada's.
In closing, as I said earlier, we are still going to suspend the fuel excise tax. It will provide a little boost. We have already implemented other measures to help consumers, including the Canada groceries and essentials benefit, which transfers funds directly into the accounts of the Canadian families most affected by affordability issues. That is a targeted program that we can improve in the future if necessary.