Singer Neil Young speaks during a press conference in Toronto, Sunday January 12, 2014. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Mark Blinch
January 16, 2014 - 1:00 AM
WINNIPEG - Rock legend Neil Young brings his aboriginal fundraising tour — and his criticism of the oilsands — to Winnipeg today.
The Manitoba capital is the second stop on a four-city circuit in support of a First Nation that lives downstream from the Alberta energy development.
Young is facing mounting criticism over his comments that compared the landscape around the oilsands to that of Hiroshima after the atomic bomb.
Federal Natural Resources Minister Joe Oliver called them insulting and Saskatchewan Premier Brad Wall called the remarks ignorant.
The president of Cenovus Energy, Brian Ferguson, says environmental groups and Hollywood celebrities have been making baseless accusations about the oilsands.
Young has been taking strong political positions for decades.
He is to perform on Friday in Regina and in Calgary on Sunday as part of the "Honor The Treaties" tour in support of the Athabasca Chipewyan First Nation. The community is in a legal battle to protect traditional territory from further industrialization.
News from © The Canadian Press, 2014