Margaret Atwood, photo from www.greenpeace.ca

Reading Toronto contributor Margaret Atwood (oh, and noted Canadian author) gave Richard Helm of the Edmonton Journal an interview this week and the Alberta oil patch may never be the same. What's Atwood's position on Alberta's energy industry?

"The easiest way to deal with the energy problem at the moment is to use less of it, which of course oilpatch doesn't want to hear. But they may get around to wanting to hear it once they put some of their money into other forms, which a lot of energy companies elsewhere are proceeding to do, because they have seen the future.
"The problem with Mr. Harper is that one feels in so many ways he's in the past, and he wants to be there and he wants everyone else to be there. And not just the past as in maybe 1985, but the past as in 1952. You see that on a lot of fronts -- it's the social attitude and also the attitude towards culture and it goes along with the attitude towards green stuff. He'll do it if pushed, but he's not going willingly."

Congratulations to Atwood for using her voice to advance environmental concerns.