MONTREAL (CBC) - Quebecers won't be getting any tax breaks to make up for galloping oil prices, the government says.
Short-term measures to ease the rising cost of fuel won't help consumers given the fluctuating price of gas, because "the [oil companies], a few days after, will just put a 5,6,7 cent increase," said Natural Resources Minister Claude B?chard.
Long-term measures such as the province's green plan, which calls for removing 1.5 million vehicles off the road by 2015, will help counteract the cost of fuel, B?chard said.
Opposition parties have called for state action as oil futures continue to break new records, rising above $123 per barrel Wednesday.
"We have to act now," to counteract the inevitable rise in transportation and food costs, said Parti Qu?b?cois critic Sylvain Gaudreault.
The Liberal government would rather bring in measures to make oil companies more accountable, B?chard said.
He urged opposition parties to reconsider legislation tabled last year by the minority government to force petrol producers to justify any price increases.
Bill 41, "An Act to foster transparency in the sale of gasoline and diesel fuel," was defeated by the Action D?mocratique du Qu?bec and the PQ in late 2007.
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