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George Sweeney, Opposition Government Services Critic and MHA for the
District of Carbonear - Harbour Grace, says it is about time that Minister
Dianne Whalen has ordered a review of the Petroleum Products Pricing Act,
but wonders why opposition concerns were dismissed by the Minister on a
number of occasions over the past two years. "I have been calling on the
Minister to make changes to the way government approaches fuel price
regulation for some time now," said Sweeney. "Ever since government fired
the commissioner, the interruption formula has been used far too often to
gouge consumers and reward oil companies."
Sweeney has made several suggestions to improve fuel price regulation and
provide further relief to consumers. "I firmly believe that government has
not been tough enough with oil companies in applying the interruption
formula. I have asked that policy changes be made immediately to protect the
consumers of this province, yet the Minister has said in the past that she
didn’t see a problem.
"When I brought forward changes to the Petroleum Products Act in 2003 to
allow for interruptions to be made, I never intended for it to be abused to
the extent we’ve seen it used by this government. Changes should be made to
government policy or the Act to prevent interruptions from being made unless
there is a true interruption in supply, not just a short-term spike in
prices.
"Government must also be responsible by limiting the amount of tax it
collects on petroleum products once prices reach a certain level. The
Minister of Finance and the Minister of Government Services should work
together to cap the tax on gasoline once it reaches a certain level. The tax
on home heating fuel should be phased out over a period of time so that
people are relieved of this unnecessary burden when trying to heat their
homes. Right now, government is collecting windfall profits from high oil
prices and these profits should be passed back to consumers."
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