Montreal — Liberal Leader Paul Martin says he will raise the issue of sky-high gasoline prices at an international summit next month but couldn't promise Wednesday on the campaign trail that his efforts would be reflected at the pumps any time soon.
With enraged motorists threatening to make gasoline prices the sleeper issue of the federal election campaign, Mr. Martin said he will discuss the issue June 6 to 8 at a G-8 meeting in the United States.
“We're dealing with an international situation here,” Mr. Martin said after making his second of three hospital tours in two days as part of his save-medicare campaign theme.
“I intend when I'm at the G-8 meeting in Georgia, to raise with my counterparts — the heads of state of the other G-8 countries — the necessity of really asking OPEC to increase production.”
“Fundamentally, we are very, very concerned about this.”
But there was no hint of a quick fix on fuel prices, with Mr. Martin saying only that he has asked the federal and provincial competition bureaus to examine the possibility of collusion among oil companies.
Gasoline prices have approached $1 a litre and the Conservatives have proposed eliminating the GST on prices above 85 cents.
Mr. Martin has rejected the idea and repeated Wednesday that he would use the projected $230-million federal tax windfall from rising gas prices to pay for hospital equipment.
The Liberal leader was touring yet another hospital after his $9-billion-plus medicare promise Tuesday that is the central policy plank of his campaign.
That cash would hinge partly on whether the provinces create home-care programs that Ottawa deems as qualified to draw from a $4-billion home-care fund. But Mr. Martin insisted Wednesday he will not try to impose national norms.
Also, the liberal leader sprang to the defence of his beleaguered Quebec lieutenant — Jean Lapierre, the star radio host who has made a series of verbal slip-ups since returning to politics after an 11-year hiatus.
In just a few months, Mr. Lapierre has called the Liberal government's Clarity Act useless, said he would be relieved to see arrests by the RCMP in the sponsorship scandal and earlier this week suggested the Liberals might lose their majority government.
Liberals will admit privately that they fear losing power but none has dared to raise the possibility aloud for fear of looking defeatist in the middle of a campaign.
Mr. Martin said he is proud to have Mr. Lapierre on his team and added that he would have “an important role in the new government.”
