Jane Groenewegen

I’ll call Committee of the Whole to order. The first department up for capital estimates is the Department of Transportation. I’d like to ask the Minister of Transportation if he’d like to bring witnesses into the Chamber. Mr. Ramsay.

Thank you, Mr. Neudorf. Mr. Ramsay.

Thank you, Mr. Yakeleya. Mr. Ramsay.

Thank you, Mr. Dolynny. Is the committee agreed?

Thank you, Mr. Bromley. Minister Ramsay.

Thank you, Mr. Yakeleya. Mr. Neudorf.

We are concerned about our consumers. We are concerned about the cost of living. Understandably, some things are not within our control. The price of crude oil on the world markets is not within our control. There are many other things that are not within our control. If we could at least satisfy our constituents here in the North that they are not being gouged at the pumps and at the home heating oil trucks, if we could assure them of that because this is something that is raised to me quite regularly and I think that the question could be laid to rest by the kind of research that could...

Thank you, Mr. Ramsay. Anything further, Mr. Yakeleya?

Agreed, thank you. Page 9-13, Transportation, activity summary, road licensing and safety, infrastructure investment summary, total infrastructure investment summary, $850,000.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Yesterday in my Member’s statement I talked about the cost of home heating oil, diesel and gasoline at the pumps in the Northwest Territories. I’m going to direct my questions to the Minister of Justice, who I believe is responsible for consumer protection. I’ll just repeat a little bit from yesterday.

The Competition Bureau has commissioned studies of the relationship of crude oil prices to retail and wholesale gasoline prices. These studies have found that gasoline prices generally do track crude prices, but there can be a delay of up to two months before decreases or...