Yes, you can kick in. The development of the oil sands draws extensively on manufactured goods and services from across the country. The construction occurs at the oil sands site in Alberta, so a lot of the construction materials are put in place there, but they buy pumps, valves, textiles, trucks, and everything else from other parts of Canada, including Ontario and Quebec.
As the consumption of goods and materials has increased for the oil sands, the oil and gas industry, the forestry industry, and everything else that's going on, the draw on the economies of other parts of the country has increased significantly as well. The statistics show the impact on employment and GDP associated with the draw on goods and services coming from the oil sands.
They've looked at this over a 20-year period. Even the latest Statistics Canada report said that Alberta is running a surplus with other parts of the country. But in Quebec and Ontario, manufacturing-based areas, they're running a deficit. This means the development has provided great opportunities for those manufacturers.
The quotes I skipped over were from the manufacturing association. They say the oil sands companies are looking around the world for these manufactured goods. Yet we're struggling to deal with the slowdown in our manufacturing. We're now marrying the two and saying, “Why can't we do that here in Canada?”
To give you an example, I got a call from the Chamber of Commerce of Thunder Bay. They said they had welders, heavy steel workers, the old shipyards, and they wanted to know why they couldn't make modules for the oil sands, put them on a truck, send them out to Alberta, and then assemble them when they arrive. There's nothing wrong with that idea.