Mr. Speaker, for the edification of the Minister of Industry and my colleagues across the floor, I would like to begin my address by reading to you a few excerpts from an article that appeared in the Journal de Montréal this morning, written by Yves Séguin.
Producers, refiners, distributors, traders, all of them, nearly every day now, give us countless reasons explaining the rise in the price of oil.
If the price of oil increases, so do profits. The world demand for oil is rising and production is not sufficient to meet consumer demand. That is the basic explanation given by the industry to justify the skyrocketing prices. But is that what really explains this extraordinary rise in prices?
Rex Tillerson, president of Exxon Mobile, the world leader in oil production, recently gave an interview to The Economist in which he shed some interesting light on the issue, completely contrary to the official line. Mr. Tillerson maintains that the high price of oil does not have anything to do with the feared shortage of oil.
In 1998, the barrel of oil was $10; today it is about $75. Exxon’s profits have risen in the latest financial statements to the colossal amount of U.S. $36 billion, or almost the equivalent of all the revenue collected by the Government of Quebec.
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Mr. Tillerson even affirms that the current skyrocketing prices do not have anything to do with an oil shortage. The traders speculate and want to make the price of oil rise by having us believe in a future shortage. Mr. Tillerson explained that Exxon has never been short of oil in its entire history and is now refining more oil than it is pumping. It does not expect any shortages either now or for many decades.
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Exxon currently continues to drill in Qatar and in the United Arab Emirates. This, added to its present reserves, give it a pump capacity of 73 billion barrels of oil. This is a guarantee of 50 years of raw material. If Exxon has such substantial reserves, and its president, Mr. Tillerson, affirms that outright, why then is the industry letting on that there is a shortage of oil? Are we to believe the financial experts, interested in speculation, or the president of the largest oil-producing company ? At least Exxon is frank and does not hide the fact that it is making a lot of money. And its president, Mr. Tillerson, does not waste his time telling us stories like the one about the hurricanes that will supposedly soon cause a shortage of oil—
Reading this article highlights how essential it is that we show the oil companies that we cannot be fooled anymore. It is essential that we pass the motion put forward by the Bloc Québécois.
You know, Mr. Speaker, how fond I am of seniors. My remarks will now focus on the problems faced by seniors because of these price hikes. As you know, 40% of seniors in Canada live in poverty. All those who live alone are poor. Yet, the maximum yearly payment in old age benefits is $5,815, plus $7,127 for the guaranteed income supplement, for a total of $12,942. With an average gasoline price of $1.08 a litre, a senior who fills up once a week has to spend $43.20 per week; that is $2,246 a year for someone whose annual income is only $12,942. But these seniors need transportation to go to medical appointments, get food, have prescriptions filled and do volunteer work. Seniors often have to cut back on their food and medicine in order to make ends meet at the end of the month.
And yet the oil companies made $17.6 billion in profits in 2005. In comparison, our 391,876 seniors living in poverty are receiving $5.072 billion. That is just over one-third of the profits of all the oil companies put together.
It is shameful.
How do you think low income seniors will manage? They have to use soup kitchens and more and more of them are doing so. In 2004, 800,000 people a month made use of soup kitchens. And the government is concerned about imposing a surtax on the oil companies, which make huge profits? What about these 800,000 people a month? These are people in my riding and the ridings of everyone here.
It is really sad. Seniors often visit food banks and discount stores. Many of them must spend their food money on medication instead.
According to the United Nations' human development index, Canada has dropped from being in first place in 1992 to being in eighth place today in terms of its quality of life in general.
In addition, the government owes $3.2 billion to seniors in retroactive guaranteed income supplement payments. Their volunteer work represents $60 billion for the economy annually to the various governments. In the meantime, the government gives the oil companies a tax cut.
It was mentioned earlier that in 2005 the oil companies paid $5.148 billion in taxes. That is true, but in 2007, they will pay only $2.362 billion, because each year their tax rate drops. This means a loss of $2.8 billion annually for three years.
The government feels it can do without $2.8 billion in taxes from businesses that make profits of $17 billion, but it refuses to return $3.2 billion to seniors, money it owes them. This is unacceptable.
Mr. Robert Pelletier, the chair of the 16th funding drive of a food bank, le Comptoir alimentaire Drummond, said:
New poor have arrived, people who work for minimum wage, but who, for all sorts of reasons, often related to increased costs of energy, including electricity and gasoline, suddenly find themselves in difficulty... A simple increase in the cost of gasoline pushes some people from self sufficiency into need.
To ensure money is better redistributed, the first step is to make sure that those who make the money pay their fair share. At this point, the oil companies do not pay their fair share. Only by supporting the Bloc Québécois motion can we hope for greater social justice for Quebeckers and Canadians.
This government can change the situation, but does not want to. Its close ties to the oil companies in the west cloud its judgment and colour its neutrality.
