Half of Canadians support Keystone XL plan: survey

But respecting Paris climate targets remain important to respondents

Canadians support the construction of the Keystone XL oil pipeline and, at the same time, want their government to uphold their commitments to the Paris climate agreement even if the U.S. reneges.

A new survey from the Angus Reid Institute on cross-border environmental and economic issues shows broad support for the controversial oil pipeline between Canada and the U.S. but also deeper concerns about U.S. President Donald Trump withdrawing from the pledge signed by close to 200 nations in Paris in 2015 to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.

The survey showed that roughly half, 48 per cent, of Canadians strongly or moderately support the Keystone XL pipeline, which would carry 830,000 barrels of oil per day from Alberta to the U.S. Gulf Coast, compared with onethird moderately or strongly opposing the pipeline. The rest, 19 per cent, were unsure.

By comparison, the research organization had previously found that 37 per cent of Canadians thought approving the Northern Gateway was the right decision in 2014, and 41 per cent thought approving the TransMountain expansion project was the correct move in 2016.

“Higher support for Keystone XL may reflect a growing desire to give Alberta an economic boost after Canadians have watched the province suffer in recent years, or an increasing acceptance of the relative safety of shipping oil by pipeline rather than rail,” the report’s authors wrote in a release published Thursday.

Angus Reid executive director Shachi Kurl said broader support for the pipeline might also be a function of “the political temperature coming down a little bit” on Keystone XL.

“This is no longer the political hill that partisans wish to die on in the same way that it was eight or nine years ago,” Kurl said, adding that politicians across the spectrum like Alberta’s NDP Premier Rachel Notley have supported pipeline projects.

The proportion of people who support the project is highest in Alberta, at 77 per cent, and lowest in Quebec at 36 per cent. Quebec is also the only province in Canada where more respondents, 38 per cent, said they oppose the Keystone XL pipeline than support it.

The inverse is also true. Albertans were most likely to believe that U.S. withdrawal from the Paris Accord is a good idea and that if the U.S. reneges on the deal, the Canadian government should reduce its commitments. Quebecers were the least likely to hold either of these views.

The survey noted, however, that most respondents in Alberta (and in Saskatchewan, where support for withdrawing from the Paris accord was second highest) thought that withdrawal from the Paris agreement is a bad idea, and that Canada should uphold its commitments even without the U.S.