I'll kick it off on that one.
The short answer is yes. It's not just the action on that one. It's also having the collective vision--from the industry, from the government, from the public, from everyone--that, you know what? Canada will be that knowledge economy. This is our vision. This is our man-on-the-moon shot. This is where we're going to take it. We're going to align our programs behind that one.
We can reinvigorate traditional industries. We can be that prosperity for our new industry. There are literally hundreds of thousands of jobs that are going to come from this one if we choose to accept it and get beyond, oh, we're Canada; we're a good place for a vacation; we'll do okay; we'll dig it, we'll sell it, we'll mine it.
No. We have to want it. We have to start to align and to ask that question in all that we do: does this help innovation?
We think the bio-based economy is a competitive advantage for Canada. ICT is competitive. There are others out there, but at the end of the line, is it still going to be the same fundamental underlying characteristics, as you've pointed out? Do we have the environment that says, yes, we're going to drive innovation, that says we're not going to be the same as the U.S., we're going to be better?
You know, is it so wrong for us to want to go for the gold medal?