From the Federation of Labour's perspective, we think we don't have to make a choice between the environment and job creation. But what's missing from the oil sands development in the Alberta situation is direction from the provincial government.
We know there are good technologies out there. We know all sorts of advances are being made in terms of reclamation, water use, and pollution, but unfortunately, our provincial government is leaving it up to industry to decide when and if to implement a lot of this stuff. We would like to see more direction from the government, as the steward of the resource, to actually require that industry adopt best practices. So far that hasn't been the case.
I think we could have a win-win situation, as Mr. Burt suggested, if we implemented these new technologies. We could help create jobs all through the chain and also produce a product that is cleaner and less environmentally damaging. By taking a more aggressive approach to sustainable development, we could actually improve Canada's reputation on the energy front as opposed to what we've been doing for years, which is winning awards for our backward approach to environmental protection.