On the recordDecember 8, 2015
I thank my colleague for his comments. Let's take a look at where we are at in this debate over energy use and what has been going on in Paris. Again, it always seems to be a one-sided conversation about all the negatives and all the dire consequences. I highlighted a few of the examples before of what some of the advocates have been saying, and how their dire predictions did not come to pass. Too often, Mr. Speaker, we take for granted how easy it is to live with constant access to reliable sources of energy. Our health, indeed our lives, and the lives of those who we love, often depend on our access to reliable energy available to us at every hour, every day. People in the developing world cannot yet say the same. There is a powerful story of an unborn child who suffocated in utero in Gambia comes to mind. This tiny, three-pound little girl could not be saved, because the hospital did not have access to a reliable source of energy. Her mother required an emergency C-section, but the surgery could not begin until a generator was powered on. Precious minutes were lost, so precious life was lost. Without a reliable, consistent form of energy, the hospital did not even own an incubator, which would have also been necessary to save this baby's life. We cannot forget how important affordable, reliable energy is for every human person, and how attacks on these sources of energy are attacks on life itself. I yield to my colleague from Texas (Mr. Weber).
