Denise Savoie

IN THE HOUSE: On gas prices and energy efficiency

It is clear that the taxpayers have to be protected against sudden prices increases, especially given the financial results of oil companies for the first quarter of this year: Imperial Oil, $774 million, and EnCana, $497 million. Taxpayers do need protection, because the big oil companies are making incredibly big profits.

At the same time, it is clear to us, in this House, that the consumption of petroleum products in this country has to be curbed.

What strategy could my colleague suggest to the government to protect in the long term the Canadian people, and the environment also? For the time being, it is clear that the Conservative government is prepared to do neither; it does not want to protect the taxpayers, and it is not prepared to act to reduce greenhouse gas emissions in absolute terms. […]

Mr. Speaker, today, we are talking about the price of gas and the member answered a question by speaking about energy efficiency programs. That could be an excellent answer if they were true energy programs. However, they are not. What the Conservative government gave Canadians were symbolic measures. For example, we hear about intensity targets for the exploitation of tar sands, we hear about increased ethanol use, we hear about an agricultural subsidy. The Conservative government has started talking with the Americans about doubling our oil exports to the United States.

When will the Conservative government introduce a real energy policy to clean energy and make it affordable for all Canadians?

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