In recent days, politician Paul St-Pierre Plamondon has proposed the idea of capping the price of a liter of gasoline at $1.60 in order to limit the devastation on Quebecers’ finances.
For Mario Dumont, host and political commentator at TVA, LCN and QUB, this idea absolutely does not hold water. He was invited this week to the show Guide de l’auto on QUB Radio with Antoine Joubert and Germain Goyer to comment on his thoughts.
If Quebec were a producer…
For Mario Dumont, the proposal to cap the price of gasoline in Quebec is definitely not realistic. He nevertheless qualifies his remarks by stating that this option could be envisaged if Quebec were a major oil producer. Which is not the case.
“If Quebec were a producer, the government could pull off a Jarnac stunt like Pierre-Elliott Trudeau did with the energy law in the 1970s. As an oil producer, for consumers in Canada to suffer less, we had forced the oil companies to sell us oil at a lower price,” recalls Mr. Dumont. Collectively, we would still have to accept a loss on each barrel.
An idea taken elsewhere
Obviously, Mr. St-Pierre Plamondon did not come up with this idea out of nowhere. Although unrealistic, it is still inspired by what exists elsewhere in a different context.
“He took as an example France where there are provisions in a law on emergency measures saying that the government could have the power, during temporary periods, to force companies such as the oil companies to sell at a lower price. In France, they do not use this provision. The price has gone up like everywhere else,” Dumont said.
And if we were a shareholder of the oil companies?
Ideologically, the province of Quebec is trying to distance itself from the oil companies. However, for Mr. Dumont, if the Caisse de depot et placement du Québec held shares in the oil industry, it would be a way to collectively benefit from this increase in value.
“Oil is dirty and we decided that the Caisse de depot et placement du Québec would no longer be a shareholder in oil companies. If we are really shocked by the extent of the oil companies’ profits, the only solution is to be a shareholder,” comments Mr. Dumont.
And electric vehicles?
As sales of electric vehicles are growing in Quebec, some are wondering if the government will eventually tax drivers of green vehicles more to compensate for the tax losses usually collected at the pump. For Mario Dumont, however, this is not a real issue. “At the government level. we are preparing for that. It’s a transition that happens slowly year after year. “, he believes, adding that the transition to electric would be even faster if the availability of models was at the rendezvous.
News of the week
During this show, there was also talk about the price increase for Electric Circuit level charging stations as well as the first glimpse of Honda’s electric vehicle.
Road tests
The two hosts also gave their impressions of the recently tested 2022 BMW M240i and 2023 Toyota bZ4X.
Response to questions from the public
Antoine Joubert and Germain Goyer answer questions from the public regarding the towing capacity of a 2019 Mazda3, the purchase of a 2022 Kia Sorento and the acquisition of a Mazda CX-9.
The Car Guideit’s every Saturday at 10 a.m. on QUB Radio, repeating on Sunday at 6 p.m.