What issues do you think are most important

[kandrathe]

Well, I suppose that it all depends on what you're referring to as the "American work ethic".  The early colonization of both America and Canada were pre-industrial, yes. 
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Speaking from my own immigrant geneology, most of my ancestors were hard working and relatively successful both in Europe and in America. There were a few that were "lazy" and struggled to eek out an existence tilling the land. Those who came to America were far more successful than those who remained. Some even moved from Minnesota to Calgary, and went on to become wildly successful. The difference was the opportunities that were afforded to the former share croppers, who upon coming to America were able to become land owners. The vast expanse of "homestead-able" land, and the new economic and social freedoms in America gave those new arrivals a leg up over the entrenched existence they had experience in Europe.

I think you might be right in that the "work ethic" is an (false) impression, while measuring productivity (output/population) is a more appropriate yard stick. That is, if you think that per capita GDP means anything in the long term prosperity of a people or a nation.