Judging that the oil companies are engaging in “robbery” from motorists, the Parti Québécois (PQ) proposed, on Sunday, to legislate to cap the price of fuel at $1.60 per litre.
• Read also: The liter of gasoline goes to $2,15.9 in the Montreal region
“Suncor, in one year, has tripled its revenues. According to a recent RBC report, Canada’s oil companies will earn record revenues of more than $150 billion this year. It’s a planetary phenomenon: BP is 53% richer. It’s robbery!”, protested in a written statement the leader of the PQ, Paul St-Pierre Plamondon.
While the price at the pump peaked at $2.15 per liter in the metropolis, the chef of Paul St-Pierre Plamondon pleaded for the government to inspire France by adopting an emergency law to block the rise in fuel prices for a few months or even a whole year.
“Within the framework of the law, the Régie de l’énergie should in future set a price based on the profit margins of oil companies and give its approval to the government as to the exceptional nature of the circumstances to proceed. It is up to the producers to bear the price difference, because they are the ones who are enriching themselves like never before on the backs of Quebecers,” pleaded Mr. St-Pierre Plamondon.
“It is neither normal nor acceptable that 85% of the increase in the price at the pump goes directly into the pockets of the oil companies and their refineries!”, he added.
The PQ leader also took advantage of his outing to denounce the lack of alternatives for motorists who would like to convert to electric cars, but who find themselves faced with waiting lists that can be calculated in years.
To change this paradigm, Mr. St-Pierre Plamondon suggested that the government force car manufacturers to supply more electric vehicles.
“Unlike other countries which impose on manufacturers the obligation to market a significant rate of electric vehicles, the CAQ government has slept on gas: it has not raised the required quotas for electric vehicles, so no ‘has not forced car manufacturers to put more on the market,’ denounced the leader of the PQ.