Neil Young's anti-oilsands tour draws fierce reaction in Calgary

Neil Young will be in the heart of Alberta oil country in less than one week and alreadysomeCalgarians are turning to Twitter to call out theCanadian artistthey say is a hypocrite.

Young kicked off his Honour the Treaties tour in Toronto yesterday. The tour is in support of the Athabascan Chipewyan First Nation (ACFN) and their fight against the expansion of Shell Canada's Jackpine mine, which recently received federal approval despite Environment Minister Leona Aglukkaq's view that it is "likely to cause significant adverse environmental effects."

Many pro-oilsands Albertanscriticized Young on Monday for speaking out against the industry whenthey sayhe would be consuming fuel himself during the course of the tour.

Young issued a statement Monday at noon in response to those critics.

"I drove my electric car from California to the tarsands and on to Washington, D.C., without using any oil at all," he said. "My car's generator runs on biomass, one of several future fuels Canada should be developing for the post-fossil fuel age. This age of renewable fuels could save our grandchildren from the ravages of climate-related disasters spawned by the fossil fuel age but we have to get started."

The ACFNhas said expansion of the Jackpine mine will violate several laws covering fisheries and species at risk, as well as their treaty rights, andis launching a legal challenge against Ottawa's decision to allow Shell to expand the mine.

The Jackpine expansion would allow Shell to increase its bitumen output by 50 per cent to 300,000 barrels a day.

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