Broadcaster Rex Murphy gave a fantastic speech a few weeks ago to the Bennett Jones Lake Louise World Cup Business Forum.
He gave a rousing speech calling on energy companies to stand up to the environmental lobby that wants to shut them down.
“I am tired of the bowed head. When people achieve something, they usually stand up and beam. One of the things that, as an outsider to your industry, has alarmed me, puzzled me, is why this industry, and to a degree this province, stands so silently at times when you are made the target of such slander and such misrepresentations.”
He also recounted a tale of a tour of a mine in Fort McMurray:
“They showed me where they had reclaimed dirty water, they showed me where they had put lawn and grass back on piles of dirt that you could never believe, they showed me trees, and then we went somewhere else and they showed me more trees. Most of the afternoon I was looking at grass, reclaimed water and trees. Finally, I said to the person giving the tour – do you have any oil? There’s my point. Stop apologizing for what you’re doing, in fact, reverse it.”
He emphasized the miraculous work being done by the oil companies:
“You’re at the very edge of technological achievement, you’re at the very edge of scientific investigation, you’re doing things with resources that even 60 years ago would be attributed to demonic powers. This is something to be truly lauded and celebrated.”
And ripped in to critics who attack the industry:
“The people who criticize you, why are you listening to them? When was the last time that Elizabeth May said, you know something, it’s so really really really good that those poor unemployed folks down in Newfoundland have now got great jobs, they’re up there and they’re crane workers, or they going out in to the forest, or they’re doing safety inspections, or they’re on offshore rigs, what a wonderful thing you oil companies are that you’ll help so many ordinary people get back their dignity, hold their families together, and have the taste of self reliance in their mouth.”
You can watch the full video here:
