I can only speak to the oil and gas industry, which I have the most experience with. I think that if concerted efforts aren't made by policy-makers at the provincial level primarily, but also at the federal level, we run the very real risk of being stuck at the low end of the value ladder. Once we're there, we may stay there. The infrastructure that's necessary for upgrading and refining is a multi-billion dollar one. Once it's built in the American Gulf Coast or the American Midwest, that's where it's going to be.
What I hear from the Alberta government, from industry, and increasingly from the federal government is talk of essentially a continental energy strategy, which people on one side of the table here just seem to accept as a given. But I would argue that this question about whether we should lock ourselves into a continental energy strategy where we're the subservient partners to the American lead partner, has never been put to Canadians during an election. It's not what Canadians support, and I think if you did put it to Canadians they would reject it.
So I think in response to your question about whether we should focus on diversifying products first, the short answer is yes, because if we don't do that we're going to get stuck in the role of being hewers of wood and drawers of water and diggers of oil sands for the long term, as opposed to taking on the more profitable and desirable role of value-adder.