Bob Huget, CEP administrative vice president for the Ontario Region called on the federal government to impose a windfall profit tax on oil and gas companies and to use that revenue to reimburse low income and other Canadians facing increased home heating costs.

Testifying on behalf of CEP, Huget appeared before the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Industry.

Thank you for the invitation to appear today. Your study topic is obviously the issue of the day in canada

We believe canada needs innovative and urgent policy initiatives in order to stem any serious long term economic effects of what looks like permanent high prices for gasoline and other fuels.

I should say at the outset that the topic is near and dear to us. We represent the communications, energy and paperworkers union of canada, an organization of 162,000 workers from coast to coast to coast.

Approximately 40,000 of our members are employed in the oil, gas and petrochemical industries across the country including the alberta tar sands and the refineries of montreal and the atlantic.

While these members make their living in the industry and want to see a vibrant oil sector in canada, they also recognize that the kind of prices we are experiencing today are not good for the economy as a whole.

They, too, are consumers and taxpayers and they, too, are just as perplexed as other canadians about what they see at the gas pumps.

To average canadians, it just makes no sense that a litre of gasoline can sell for .99 cents on their way to work and for $1.16 or more on their way home.

And it really defies belief when they see the prices change almost in the same milli-second at competing stations on the same block.

How can they not suspect a conspiracy or price fixing?

By the way, if you think you’ve heard outrage over gasoline prices at the pumps this summer -- just wait until you get back home over the christmas break and people start talking to you about their home heating fuel costs!

The government’s announced solution of rebating $250 to specified families makes for good press for a day or two – but it is no real solution to what is happening in the market place today.

This money, remember, is coming out of our pockets. So we get to pay the exhorbitant prices at the pump and then we get to pay, through our taxes, for the needed relief payments for low income families -- all so that the industry can keep all of its windfall profits to itself. The notion is bizarre from where we sit.

Instead, why not tax the windfall profits being made by the industry and rebate that money back to all consumers and implement conservation and other measures needed to sustain our economy?

And a monitoring agency, on the surface at least, is a good measure. But only if it operates totally independantly of the oil and gas industry. If it relies soley on industry for its data, it will make absolutely no difference.

Conservation policies and incentives are naturally a good thing and are urgently required if we are ever going to maintain our status of living over the long term.

But even the most draconian of conservation initiatives will not bring relief to the auto workers who get laid off this year because of low sales;

Or the paper workers who are losing their jobs in the thousands because of high energy costs;

Or to every canadian consumer who already is paying more for literally thousands of items because of increased transport costs.

We think canada needs a national energy pricing policy that is good for canadians!

And the first thing we need to examine as part of that policy is refining capacity.

There is growing sentiment and evidence from across north america that the industry as a whole has deliberately reduced refining capacity as a market control strategy.

To solve today’s pricing crisis, we don’t need more exploration or crude production – even if we doubled output from the tar sands tomorrow morning, we could not refine the product.

Why? Because the industry has been closing refineries over the past decade in order to maintain higher market prices.

As an aside, by the way, since the announced closure of the petro canada refinery in oakville, ontario in 2004 – canadian imports of refined european gasoline have jumped significantly.

That’s like canada importing wheat!!!

It makes no sense for canadian consumers or for the national economy. The only people who benefit from this situation are the oil companies.

So, step number one in creating a “made in canada” pricing policy is adoption of measures to increase refining capacity.

Step number two, we think, is a regulatory agency that actually looks out for the public good.

That is supposed to be the job of the national energy board.

In our view, the neb has become nothi ng more than a rubber stamping agency for the issuance of short term export permits.

As the neb watches the natural gas flow south of the border, thousands upon thousands of canadian households this winter will suffer real hardship in order to keep their families warm.

If the neb needs a new mandate, let’s give it to them and let’s make it clear and simple: guarantee canadians a secure supply of energy at rates that make sense for canada.

And if that means establishing a domestic pricing structure different than the north american or world market – so be it.

And if that means tearing up the north american free trade agreement, then lets do that too!!

Nafta has become the excuse far too often for our governments either doing nothing or, worse, implementing trade practices – especially in the energy sector – that feed the american behemoth but hurt canadians.

The softwood lumber dispute has proven in spades that the u.s. has abandoned nafta as a workable treaty. We agree.

Thank you again for your attention. We welcome your questions and comments.