by arthur Weinreb, associate Editor,
april 15, 2004
When he introduces legislation like this. On april 5, Ontario Progressive Conservative MPP, Joe Tascona, introduced a private member’s bill entitled: " an act to provide for the interim freeze of certain petroleum prices". Under Bill 48 that has passed first reading in the legislature, petroleum prices would be frozen at their March 31 rates for a period of 90 days. The bill also provides that the freeze can be extended for a further 60 days by order of Cabinet.
The proposed legislation also includes rights of inspectors to enter the premises of petroleum sellers and to seize their financial records. Individuals who breach the act and directors and officers of corporations who authorize, permit or acquiesce in a breach are subject to penalties including up to one year in jail.
So much for the conservative concept of a smaller government and less interference with the marketplace. This bill represents a severe intrusion into the business of, not the major oil companies but smaller independent retailers. This type of feel-good limitation of property rights is not unusual; what is interesting is that the bill was introduced by a member of the Progressive Conservative Party. What is even more startling is that Tascona represents the riding of Barrie-Simcoe-Bradford, not known as being the most "progressive" area in the province. Both the Reform and alliance have done well in the area federally and it is an area that could go Conservative in the next federal election.
Very little attention has been paid to the introduction of Bill 48 in the media and elsewhere, probably because private member’s bills usually don’t go anywhere. and the governing Liberals, who reneged on their own promise to continue the freeze of hydro rates, will have little interest in seeing the bill passed. The significance of the introduction of this bill is one more illustration that the conservatism that was practiced by the former Mike Harris government is dead. Even Mike, by virtue of his last public incarnation as Belinda Stronach’s chief cheerleader, seems to have abandoned all vestiges of the Common Sense Revolution.
Political posturing over principle--that’s all Bill 48 is. Gas prices are a hot-button issue because they rise dramatically in a short time. Yet years of investigating retailers for price fixing have resulted in nothing. But the price of petroleum products is going up all over Canada and other parts of the world. and where will it end? Fuel and fuel oil are not the only products whose price has risen--ask anyone who has gone to a bar for a lap dance recently. But unlike other commodities, petroleum products are also subject to decreases as well. In the Toronto area, where the pumps were at 73.9 cents a litre on Good Friday had dropped to 69.9 cents by Easter Sunday. Surprisingly there are no cries of collusion when every gas station in a metropolitan area drops the price of gasoline by 5 or 6 cents a litre.
The bill’s proponents will argue that petroleum is a necessity and the freeze is only temporary. Those that drive each and every day will be hard hit, but for the occasional driver, they can always fill up when gas is relatively cheap. There are other ways that the "so-called" conservatives could compensate those who are severely hit by huge increases than by a blatant interference with the market. Besides, there are a lot of other necessities--will the sale of those products become subject to more government intervention? as for being only a temporary freeze, we need only remember the income tax--that short-term measure that was introduced after World War I to provide temporary relief to the war-torn economy.
Conservatives are the ones who resist interference with the marketplace in order to protect the environment. Yet the increase in fuel prices will result in less operation of polluting-spewing vehicles and allow the free market to improve the environment. But someone who is a member of a conservative political party, obviously doesn’t like that. The bill in reminiscent of al Gore, who during the 2000 election railed against "the big oil companies" because the price of gas was approaching $1.60 a gallon while forgetting what he wrote in Earth in the Balance--that gas prices would have to rise to $2.00 a gallon in order to save the planet. Bill 48 is simply grandstanding at the expense of forgoing political principles.
With PCs like Ernie Eves and Joe Tascona, a real conservative party no longer exists in Ontario. We need someone like a Jim Flaherty who believes in conservative principles, not someone who would introduce legislation that would make any NDP member proud.