Thanks, Mr. Chair.
Thanks to all of the participants, especially those in Alberta who had to get up in the wee hours to testify. I hope they're providing you with lots of coffee.
Dr. Harrison, you may well have participated and you're probably well aware that about 10 years ago the Province of Alberta and, I think, the federal government participated in a big review of the oil sands, the cost benefits and so forth, which a lot of people were involved in. A number of reports were initiated from that. The Alberta government hired Mr. Radke, who was a former deputy minister in the Alberta government, to do a review of the costs and benefits and how things were proceeding. In his report Mr. Radke made the same recommendation that former Premier Lougheed did, which was that the industry should be paced.
One of the strong arguments for that had to do with the escalation of costs. We've heard some testimony. We've heard from The Conference Board of Canada about $100 billion being invested, but that's by and large only in taking the bitumen out of the ground. If all the money is going into that, obviously there is not a lot of money left over for refineries, Mr. Boag's sector.
I wonder, Dr. Harrison, if you could speak to the implications for other sectors, in particular the municipal construction sector, with regard to competition for workers and the rising costs in this highly escalating, fast-paced industry in northern Alberta.