Matthew Green, MP for Hamilton Centre, says people in Ontario got “mugged” this week as gas prices soared overnight Wednesday.
He grilled Liberal Minister of Innovation, Science and Industry François-Philippe Champagne over gas prices during question period in the House of Commons on Thursday.
Green said “Ontarians woke up this morning to find out that they got mugged by corporate oil and gas greed today. Gas prices are up 14 cents to $1.80 at the pumps. This Liberal government almost found the courage to tax the profits of the oil and gas corporations, but buckled after their lobbyists told them not to.”
Prices in Hamilton and across the GTA rose by about 14 cents a litre Wednesday night. Across Hamilton’s mountain, prices were fluctuating around $1.78 per litre.
Minister Champagne responded saying “Mr. Speaker, usually I say that we will take no lessons from the Conservatives, but this time I will say that of the NDP. Canadians watching at home know that we have been fighting for them every single day. Every member on this side of the House wakes up in the morning to work for Canadians to improve their lives.”
He said “to make sure we stabilize prices, we introduced the largest reform on competition in this country, something we should all be proud of, because that is the most consequential thing to help Canadians, not only for this generation, but for generations to come.”
Matthew Green, MP for Hamilton Centre, was looking for answers, from the Liberal federal government on Thursday, to a question about why gas prices soared across Canada Wednesday night.