Decisions loom that may bite into Horgan’s new popularity
Controversy over the new NDP government’s new party financing bill may only be a taste of things to come, a B.C. pollster suggests.
The bill to ban union and corporate donations has received a lot of criticism for a plan to provide interim public financing to the political parties.
But the Angus Reid Institute suggests more difficult issues are ahead.
“Nearly half (48 per cent) of British Columbians approve of (Premier John) Horgan’s job performance as leader so far — making him the second-most-approved-of provincial leader in Canada — but against this backdrop, British Columbians are more likely to support than oppose two major energy projects the NDP and Greens have promised to fight against: Kinder Morgan’s TransMountain pipeline expansion, and the Site C hydroelectric dam,” the pollster says in a news release.
“If the government manages to cancel either one, the decision seems likely to anger more B.C. residents than it pleases.”
Nearly half of respondents say TransMountain (47 per cent) and Site C (45 per cent) “should go ahead as planned,” while approximately three-in-10 say each one “should be cancelled” (33 per cent and 27 per cent, respectively). The rest are unsure.
Significant differences emerge along age, gender, and income lines on the two resource projects.
Women, younger respondents, and those with lower household incomes are more likely to say each one should be cancelled
“More support is found for the government’s pledge to reform the electoral system,” Angus Reid said, “with British Columbians favouring a move to proportional representation by almost a two-to-one margin over the current first-past-the-post system.”
Some two-in-three British Columbians (65 per cent) say they would prefer a provincial electoral system that assigns seats proportionally, rather than the current first-pastthe-post system (35 per cent)
But the pollster said support may drop once a specific voting system is proposed.
The Angus Reid Institute analyzed the results of an online survey conducted from Sept. 5-19 among a representative randomized sample of 608 British Columbians. For comparison purposes only, a probability sample of this size would carry a margin of error of +/– four percentage points, 19 times out of 20.