Notley’s warlike stance against B.C. has her winning the PR battle
Poll finds most Canadians support pipeline, most Albertans approve of premier’s efforts
Perhaps Premier Rachel Notley should go to war with British Columbia more often.
According to new information from a public opinion poll by Angus Reid, Notley’s battle with B.C. has focused national attention on the dispute over the expansion plans for Kinder Morgan’s Trans Mountain pipeline.
Not only that, now that Canadians are giving the proposed project some thought, a clear majority believe the $7.4-billion enterprise will help the national economy.
When Angus Reid conducted its first survey about the Trans Mountain issue in December 2014, just 23 per cent of Canadians were paying close attention. After Notley cut off the importation of B.C. wine last February, the percentage of Canadians watching events jumped to 47 per cent.
Now, the Trans Mountain soap opera has captured the attention of 56 per cent of Canadians.
When asked if the project will help, hurt or have no impact on the Canadian economy, 59 per cent said “help” while 17 per cent said “hurt.”
Not surprisingly, an overwhelming majority of respondents in Alberta (69 per cent) and Saskatchewan (72 per cent) said “help.”
What might surprise you is that a majority in almost every province believes the pipeline expansion would give a boost to Canada’s economy — 56 per cent in B.C., 63 per cent in Ontario, 52 per cent in Quebec, and 60 per cent in Atlantic Canada.
(At the national level, the online poll of 2,125 Canadians has a margin of error of three percentage points, 19 times out of 20.)
This is the same poll that last week said 42 per cent of Canadians think Notley is doing a good job handling the dispute with B.C., compared with 36 per cent for Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and 31 per cent for B.C. Premier John Horgan.
It also indicated a majority of British Columbians — 54 per cent — supported the pipeline, while 38 per cent were opposed.
The new information released Monday also indicates a majority think the anti-pipeline protesters “don’t represent the mainstream at all.”
A total of 60 per cent either agreed strongly or moderately with that statement, while 23 per cent disagreed strongly or moderately.
Interestingly, the demonstrations seem to be making the pipeline more popular, with 25 per cent of Canadians saying the protests make them “more likely to support the pipeline,” while 18 per cent say the opposite.
Kinder Morgan, though, comes in for some criticism, with 58 per cent of respondents saying the company “could have done a better job of earning public support.”
But the Canadian public, and protesters, are johnny-comelatelys to the project. The company actually began twinning the pipeline a decade ago. It successfully, and peacefully, laid pipe through Jasper National Park and into B.C.’s Mount Robson National Park.
At the time, Kinder Morgan had worked with communities along the way, as well as with Aboriginal groups, the National Energy Board, Parks Canada, Fisheries and Oceans Canada, Transport Canada, Health Canada, the B.C. Ministry of Environment and B.C. Parks.
And protesters barely made a peep.
In fact, one of the only entities grumbling about the project was Suncor Energy. It complained Kinder Morgan was using its monopoly pipeline position to earn an “excessive” return on equity. Suncor lost its argument before a hearing of the National Energy Board.
Now, the Trans Mountain expansion has everyone talking. Well, it has 56 per cent of Canadians talking.
It has also given Notley a bit of a boost back home.
After Angus Reid released the first part of its poll last Wednesday showing she was doing better on the pipeline issue than Trudeau or Horgan, Alberta NDP officials began quietly distributing snippets from their own public opinion poll.
The telephone survey of 800 people April 11-13 by Psephos Canada indicated 72 per cent of Albertans either strongly approve or somewhat approve of how Notley has handled the pipeline fight, while 23 per cent disapprove.
(The poll has a margin of error 3.5 percentage points, 19 times out of 20.)
The Alberta officials say they’re still confident the pipeline dispute with B.C. will be resolved in Kinder Morgan’s favour within weeks. We shall see.
Given the newest polling results, you have to wonder if they’ll be tempted to go to war with somebody else.