Gary Lunn

[Natural Resources, June 8th, 2006]

Mr. Speaker, we are developing our plan. At committee earlier this morning, I asked the hon. member to bring forward his ideas.

I applaud the NDP members. I was quite surprised that after I asked them to submit their ideas and indicated that we were interested in talking to them, only a few hours later they actually came up with some suggestions.

We are moving forward with proposals that will have a meaningful impact on every single Canadian. We believe wind will play a future role in Canada's energy supply and we support that.

[Nuclear Energy, June 7th, 2006]

Mr. Speaker, I would like to thank the member for Renfrew—Nipissing—Pembroke for her hard work on this file.

I am proud to be part of a government that has announced $520 million to clean up the nuclear legacy liabilities and contaminated sites as part of our environmental stewardship.

Atomic Energy Canada Limited is well known for its research and also the research on medical isotopes which every single Canadian supports. We are also proud that Dr. Patrick Moore, co-founder of Greenpeace and chief scientist and chair of Greenspirit Strategies has endorsed this government's plan.

[Natural Resources, June 7th, 2006]

Mr. Speaker, the government has done a lot.

In fact, earlier last month, the Minister of Agriculture and Agri-Food, the Minister of the Environment, and I met with provincial members from all 10 provinces. Every single province was very supportive of our biofuel initiative.

The government is moving forward with projects that will actually have an impact on the environment and help every single Canadian, unlike the record of the old Liberal government.

[Natural Resources, June 7th, 2006]

Mr. Speaker, I would like to remind the member that the Liberal environmental record over the last 13 years was abysmal on every single facet. The government has not cancelled the program as the hon. member has suggested.

[Business of Supply, June 1st, 2006]

Mr. Speaker, it is frustrating for consumers when prices fluctuate. We all know that gas prices rise during the summer months. We are heading into that season. There is a greater demand for gas. There is no question that when demand rises, prices rise at the wholesale level and at the retail level. Would I like to see the prices stay constant year round? Yes, but I do believe in a market driven system. I do not believe it is up to the government to dictate what the price is going to be. We either believe in the market driven system, which I think works overall, or we do not. Is it perfect? No. Are there frustrations? Without question.

The member asked about efficiency. There is a lot we could do overall with respect to energy efficiency, including with respect to our automobiles and our homes. I have said that the largest amount of untapped energy we have in this country is the energy we waste. We need to change how people think. We need to get people moving in that direction. Canadians are moving in that direction. Hybrid car sales are rising every single year. They are becoming more popular as the technology moves forward.

We want to support those types of initiatives and help them move forward. That is exactly what this government is doing.

[Business of Supply, June 1st, 2006]

Mr. Speaker, the new Conservative government is not taking its lead from the former Liberal government. We are not developing policies based on the Liberal record on energy efficiency because the facts speak for themselves. The Liberal policies simply did not work. We are developing policies that are going to be accountable. They will work and will have a real impact for Canadians.

If the member believes that the Liberals' programs on energy efficiency were so great, why is their record abysmal on greenhouse gases? Why are greenhouse gases 35% higher than the targets set by the Liberals? Why did greenhouse gases rise each and every single year that the Liberals were in power? Because their programs did not work.

We fundamentally believe there has to be accountability. That is what we are doing and it is what Canadians will get from this new Conservative government.

[Business of Supply, June 1st, 2006]

Mr. Speaker, without question there are refining costs and they amount to about 20% of the price.

There is the price of crude oil. There is no question that the price of crude oil is driven by global market forces. The oil companies make profits on the price of crude oil that they sell.

Canada is a very large and diverse country as everyone knows. In certain regions of Canada refineries import crude oil and it is refined here in Canada. In other parts of Canada the refining is done domestically because of the size of our country.

Canada is a net exporter of crude oil but the crude oil market price is driven by global markets. The government does not believe that it should dictate to that sector the price that it should sell, buy or place on surtaxes. We will work with that sector to ensure the industry continues to make the investments in order to continue to be a world leader in research and technology.

[Business of Supply, June 1st, 2006]

Price-fixing, as the member yelled out. I think we should look at the facts on this.

They talked about the creation of a petroleum monitoring agency. The facts are that the Competition Bureau has investigated this six separate times since 1990 alone. Each and every time it found no collusion and no price fixing. The Conference Board of Canada recently investigated whether there was price fixing at the pumps or collusion and each and every time it found that there was none. Both of those agencies are independent.

Members from all sides of the House and from every party who sat on the House of Commons Standing Committee on Industry investigated this, not once but twice, and they found no price fixing and no collusion.

If the members opposite or anyone else in Canada want to bring forward a complaint they should bring forward evidence where they believe there is collusion or price-fixing and the Competition Bureau will investigate it because that is its job. Creating another level of bureaucracy, another monitoring agency, would only result in spending millions of dollars more of taxpayer money. How is that efficient?

I would remind members that all these investigations happened when the Liberal government was in power. It was under the Liberals' regime when there was no collusion. It was not a biased or partisan investigation.

There is no question that as consumers we will face challenges as the demand for gasoline and energy around the world increases but with those demands also come opportunities. Canada exports an enormous amount of energy and crude oil. The tax benefits that the government derives from this sector are what allow us to deliver our social programs and to have a strong economy.

Alberta alone exports something in the magnitude of $71 billion a year in energy. Most people do not realize that more tax dollars from the oil sands in Alberta, which is an important part of our economy right now, come to Ottawa than go to Edmonton. Those are facts and every Canadian right across Canada benefits from that.

What can we do as a government? We will do everything we can to try to stabilize it but at the end of the day the price of crude oil will be driven by global market forces. We either believe in free enterprise and a market-driven system or we do not. If the members opposite want to go back to a Pierre Trudeau national energy program because they think that would be good for the country, we fundamentally disagree. That is not where this government is going.

Other forces, which we do not have control over, also have an impact on the price at the pumps. We all saw it last year when Hurricane Katrina, a natural disaster, had a significant impact on the refinery capacity. The market fluctuates but Canada also had opportunities to pick up the diminished capacity. Those are the forces we must deal with.

We believe that putting a surtax on major oil companies is fundamentally the wrong way to go. We do not move toward command and control. We believe in the market-driven system. We want to work with industry and with our provincial counterparts to invest in these sectors with technology to ensure all Canadians can benefit.

[Business of Supply, June 1st, 2006]

Mr. Speaker, I am very pleased to rise today to address the motion by the Bloc Québécois.

The motion reads as follows:

That, in the opinion of the House, the government should establish a plan to counteract the negative effects of repeated increases in gas prices, specifically including: a surtax on the profits of major oil companies, the creation of a petroleum monitoring agency, and the strengthening of the Competition Act.

Let me start by saying that I believe the motion represents a pretty negative view. What the motion is suggesting is that the market systems are failing us and that it is time that we want to regulate or put surtaxes on one of the most productive sectors of our economy.

I would respectfully submit that the member wants command and control. Or does he believe in market driven forces? Does he believe the markets are going to find out where this should settle? Do we promote success or do we want to penalize it?

I listened to the hon. member and I am not quite sure where the motivation for the Bloc motion is coming from. There were comments in his recent answers to questions that we do not want Parliament to become just a board of directors for oil companies or that possibly we could help through this motion to distribute the equalization of wealth. That is something I fundamentally disagree with. If the members want to have that debate, we could have that debate on another day.

I am trying to square the circle on how the Bloc has come up with this motion. I think it is fraught with problems. That said, we have seen the price of crude oil go from about $47 U.S. a barrel just over a year ago to $70 U.S. a barrel in the last few weeks. This amounts to roughly a 50% increase. Depending on which side of the equation one is on, obviously it presents challenges, but it also presents opportunities. I think there is an optimistic side to this. It is creating opportunities here in Canada. As the international community has challenges in ensuring an adequate energy supply that is secure, we can look at the environmental challenges and also at prosperity as well, and Canada has an opportunity to play a leading role.

The overall high commodity prices are generally good for Canada. The Canadian dollar is now sitting at 90¢ due to the strength of the Canadian economy, particularly the resource sector. Energy is one component of that. If we look at where we are benefiting from the oil and gas sector in Canada right now, we can see that it is creating literally hundreds of thousands of jobs. Tens of billions of dollars are being invested in Canada.

In Alberta alone, in the oil sands it is expected that $100 billion will be invested in the next 10 years. That is very good for the economy. It promotes research and innovation. We are making enormous gains in technology. This has been very good for the economy.

I think the hon. member's motion that suggests putting a surtax on profits is fundamentally the wrong way to go. The party opposite wants to start raising taxes, but the Conservative Party believes in reducing taxes. As members know, in the most recent budget we brought in 26 separate tax reductions for the Canadian people, from the GST reduction to a reduction in personal income taxes. We reduced taxes right across the board, including those for small businesses. We have also helped Canadians in their investments, as we have seen, for various pension funds, portfolios and investments. This has been good news for them as well.

There is no question that the oil and gas sector is in a very strong position right now. The price of crude oil is very strong. There are a lot of very positive aspects, but the motion suggests creating a surtax when the sector is doing so well. I am not sure what is driving this motion. If it is to try to distribute wealth, if that is what the Bloc believes, so more money will go into the federal government and there will be more money in the federal coffers, again I think that is fundamentally the wrong approach. One has to believe in either a market driven system or in command and control, in the government regulating and controlling everything. Again, I think that is fundamentally wrong.

I know the motion has been made as a result of higher prices of gasoline at the pumps. There are things this government is doing. I am very proud to be part of this government and the announcement in recent weeks that we want to see a 5% biofuel content by 2010. That is a way to have a positive impact on the prices at the pumps and on the environment. It also provides benefits for the farming industry across Canada, which is looking for new opportunities. It was a very positive meeting.

Again, I think there are other ways to address these higher fuel costs. I do not think we can just look at the price at the pump and say that the price of gasoline is high. I want to see stable lower prices as much as every other member does, but the issue is much larger than that. It is about the price of energy. That is why our government is investing in looking at other areas. We are working with industry to promote science and technology. We are looking at ways to become more efficient. Those are ways in which the government can ensure that we have a secure energy supply. We want to ensure that the energy is affordable.

There is no question that the people this hits the hardest are the poorest in our economy, the ones who struggle, but again, I do not see how squaring the circle through putting a surtax on the oil companies is going to solve any of that. It is something that we in the new Conservative government fundamentally disagree with.

Let us talk about the specific matter of gasoline prices. There are four principal components that make up the pump price. Of course, one of those components is crude oil, the raw material. As we have seen, the price of crude is at record levels, but that accounts for about 42% of the retail price.

The next components are the taxes, federal, provincial and municipal, which average about 32%.

The third component is the refining margin, which is the oil companies' cost of refining the crude into the product that we see at the pumps, which is about 20%.

The final component is the retail or the marketer margin, which is, in essence, the difference between the wholesale price and the retail price of the gasoline which has typically been around 5¢ per litre for the last three years. Since around 70% of the retailers in Canada are independent they have total discretion to set the price at the pumps and therefore the price does fluctuate.

I hear members opposite from the Liberal Party engaging in this discussion while I have the floor. I do not know whether they want to go back to a national energy program that was implemented by Pierre Trudeau, whether they think we should overly regulate or maybe they want us to come down with this big club. We have been there before and it was an unmitigated disaster. Those things simply do not work.

The government's approach is to work with the oil and gas sector, with which I have had some very productive meetings, to work with our provincial counterparts and invest in research, science and technology. We are encouraging the industry, as it is in a very strong market, to have greater participation in the research so technology can move forward, we can see greater efficiencies and we can do far better on the environmental side.

While we are in this strong market, the opportunities to make significant gains in this area are enormous. Let me give one example on CO₂ capture and storage, an area in which we are making significant progress. Both the government and the industry are participating in this research. We now have the ability to capture 100% of CO₂ emissions from the large final emitters in the oil and gas sector and pump that back down into the ground. I believe that is where we should be pushing the industry to make major investments. I believe there is a lot of room for improvement there through technology which would have enormous benefits for the environment.

Those are some of the things the government believes in and where we want to go.

One of the issues raised in the original motion was whether there was any kind of collusion for the major oil companies--

[The Environment, May 29th, 2006]

Mr. Speaker, as the Minister of the Environment just said, the only thing we are cutting is greenhouse gases and pollution, unlike the previous Liberal government which sat on its hands and watched greenhouse gases skyrocket.

When we develop energy efficient programs we will ensure they get results for every Canadian in this country, including Quebeckers. We do not want them to end up in envelopes of cash in the streets of Quebec.