The retired journalist spent 25 years of her four-decade career covering the energy sector for the National Post.Sign up to receive daily headline news from the Calgary Herald, a division of Postmedia Network Inc.By clicking on the sign up button you consent to receive the above newsletter from Postmedia Network Inc. You may unsubscribe any time by clicking on the unsubscribe link at the bottom of our emails or any newsletter. Postmedia Network Inc.
While the characters are all fictionalized, they are loosely based on people Cattaneo came across when covering the energy sector. That includes two Indigenous characters from different generations: Chief Ann Proudfoot, a matriarch from northern British Columbia; and Anthony Littlechild, a young Indigenous man who grew up during the development of the oilsands.Article content
Cattaneo became the subject of news stories herself back in 2019 when then-premier Jason Kenney and energy minister Sonya Savage enlisted her to develop a plan for what the latter called “the fight against lies and myths being spread about Alberta’s energy industry” as part of the UCP’s controversial Canadian Energy Centre.
“Is it pro-oilsands? Is it pro-environmental community? Is it pro-Indigenous people? All the characters are flawed, including the reporter,” she says. “All of them push very, very hard to achieve their objectives.”