I would like to thank Mrs. Lorraine Charbonneau, who happens to be a good friend of mine from Lively, for this petition: “Gas Prices.”

You know, Speaker, that the price of gas varies wildly. In my riding, if you can buy gas on a Sunday or on a Monday, I guarantee you that it will be cheaper than on a Wednesday, Thursday or Friday. I was in my riding last week during the constituency week and went to Foleyet. Gas in Foleyet is $1.89 a litre. Gas in other parts of my riding is also very high, yet you will go a few kilometres to the west to Espanola, and gas is at $1.64. A few kilometres to the east of Sudbury, and gas is at $1.66.

Why? Because companies sell at what the market can bear, and unfortunately, in my riding we are deemed as a market who can bear a lot of gas price increases. Most people work in the mines; my riding has the most mines in Ontario. You have to travel a long distance to go to the mines. Most of them drive trucks, because they have to travel early to make the cage down to the mine ,and they have no choice but to take gas.

So they ask that the government does what 49—I forget exactly how many—many other states and provinces have done, and that is to regulate the price of gas. Set a ceiling at which gas in Ontario cannot be sold any more expensive than this. There is no reason for the people of Nickel Belt to always pay 20, 30, 34 cents more per litre of gas than people 20 kilometres one way or 35 kilometres the other way. We’re being gouged. Please, listen to the thousands and thousands of people who have signed this petition. Regulate the price of gas.

I support this petition. I will affix my name to it and demande à la page Charlise de l’amener à la table des greffiers. Merci.

I’m wondering if the member did get some emails from pretty much all the constituents and all the municipalities asking them to vote for that bill because that’s what people want. I’ve been meeting with a lot of municipal leaders and what they want is to have natural gas, and they sure are working for even the leave to construct being raised. So I’m wondering if she had reached out to municipalities and if she heard—of course, maybe she’s representing more of a city, but for us in a rural area it’s really important, natural gas. I’m wondering if she did get that kind of response from municipalities.